[Dixielandjazz] Re: A Note of safe wishes for our mates down under

[tcashwigg at aol.com]

Hi Graham:   Happy to hear all dodged the bullet, we tend to think of 
your fair country as an Island down under and forget how large it 
really is from time to time.

  Sure glad to see the response from your Gov't folks seems to be a tad 
better than ours was in New Orleans.

I can see from your post that a similar problem exists in both our 
wonderful countries, which proves my theory of longstanding,
That if indeed there is  GOD in control of all this chaos in the world 
he/she is not fond of Trailer parks.

Proof is very obvious in the USA:

If one asks the question:  What is the difference between a Hurricane, 
Tornado, Cyclone and a Red Neck Divorce the answer is quite simple. 
none at all, in any one of them a guy Named Bubba is gonna lose a 
Trailer House. :))

Irreverently Tom  " Trailer for Sale"  Wiggins



-----Original Message-----
From: Graham Martin <grahmartin at bigpond.com>
To: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
Sent: Wed, 22 Mar 2006 11:09:27 +1000
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Re: A Note of safe wishes for our mates down 
under

   G'day guys,

I too wish to thank those listmates who were concerned about how we 
Aussies were
faring in cyclone Larry. But like Bill Haesler said, although I may 
have been
the closest, it was still too far away for us to feel any affects. Like 
they
say, 'Australia is a big country'!

It has not been an unusually strong hurricane season but this 
particular one
(Larry) was a cat 5. Even Tracy, the cyclone that flattened Darwin was 
only a
cat 4. The cyclone season is not over yet and we usually get a few 
buzzing the
top end. They normally come in from the Coral Sea, move across the Top 
End and
then go down the West Coast. The direction they take depends on a 
number of
factors that I don't fully understand. I'm not even sure the weather 
people do,
although they did an excellent job with their predictions for Larry.

Reports from Innisfail say that one in three houses has sustained 
substantial
damage. Just looking at the TV coverage it would seem they are mostly 
the older
'Queenslanders' style houses - i.e. Built on stumps, with weatherboard 
cladding
and Corrugated Iron roofs - which is not the best design to resist a 
cyclone.
News is still coming in and we will not really know until they get 
themselves a
bit better organised with the support teams. Innisfail is still cut off 
due to
fallen trees and some flooding from the rain falling in the ranges.

Larry had a pressure registered at 950hPa at its lowest point, with 
winds of up
to 290km/h. By comparison, Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New 
Orleans last
year, was recorded at 902hPa with winds of 280km/h. Larry also 
surpassed in size
and intensity of the cat 4 cyclone that wrecked Darwin in 1974, but the 
lessons
learnt from Cyclone Tracy meant there was far less destruction in far 
north
Queensland from Larry - certainly the newer building construction. 
While the
winds from Larry were the same level as Cyclone Tracy, the damage to 
buildings
was considerably less because of strict building standards introduced 
into
tropical parts of Australia, and Australia generally, in the past two 
decades.
Actually I have an strong personal interest in this because the 
implementation
of those new building standards gave me a training job for about the 
last 12
years. Unfortunately for me, but fortunately for all Australians those 
new
building regulation now seem to be understood. I must have worked 
myself out of
a job!  I actually did the last of my training of local council 
inspectors in
the Cairns/Innisfail area, where Larry struck, only two years ago when 
I first
moved back to Queensland.

In one way cyclone Larry may be good news in that it may indicate a La 
Nina
cycle. The climate experts are saying that we are seeing a change which 
is
possibly due to the Pacific weather system shifting from 
drought-inducing El
Nino pattern to the wetter La Nina cycle. Parts of Australia have been 
subjected
to a four-year long drought and we are observing water restrictions 
here in
South East Queensland.  It was beginning to look as though we would 
have to
build some water storage dams closer to the coast because there has 
been no rain
presently falling in the catchment areas of the existing dams.

So thanks again guys for the concern but it is the North Queenslanders 
who were
affected. Folks in the rest of Australia will just not be able to 
afford
bananas, avocados or sugar because those crops have been decimated. The 
state
and federal governments seem to be making a pretty good fist of helping 
folks
out. Certainly the initial evacuation was very efficient despite the 
very short
notice.

Best,

Grah

Graham Martin
Email: grahmartin at bigpond.com
Website: http://tromjazz.netfirms.com
6 Portland Parade
REDLAND BAY
Queensland 4165
AUSTRALIA
Phone or Fax: (07) 3829 1856
Mobile: 043 808 2648
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