Christmas Cyclone

Woke early this morning to strong winds. My wife who was in Darwin for Cyclone Tracey 36 years ago does not sleep in such circumstances. I tried to go back to sleep but she woke me to say a cyclone was on the way.

Quickly we picked up the light things on the veranda to bring them inside. I filled a jerry can of water. Little time to prepare but it was only a category 1 and a small system too. It came ashore to the east of us. The eye passed very close but it was not organised by that time and we did not have the dead calm but light flukey winds. Strong winds started up from east of north after dropping when they were westerly. Corn and bananas flattened, lots of leaves stripped and rain horizontal.

Not the Christmas present we wanted, Cyclone Tasha!
. Wonder if the strong winds from the other direction could stand my fruit trees up again?
The small wetland below our house is a lake at the moment. Petersen Creek is running a banker and daming our small stream. The sun came out, sort of, and allowed for a clean up. Not one's usual Christmas clean up.

From http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/12/25/3101567.htm?section=justin

Flash flooding is expected to inundate far north Queensland after a category one cyclone crossed the coast this morning.

Heavy rain and damaging winds are expected to continue after Cyclone Tasha crossed the coast south of Cairns, near Gordonvale, about 5:15am (AEST).

The cyclone has since been downgraded to a tropical low.

Wind gusts of up to 105 kilometres per hour were recorded off the coast and about 100 millimetres of rain in the space of an hour.

Flash flooding has already trapped a family of three on the roof of their house at Woopen Creek near Babinda, south of Cairns.

Forecaster Clare Richards says areas around Tully have seen falls of about 200 millimetres in the past 24 hours.