Cyclone Trevor has made landfall in Cape York near Lockhart River
Severe Tropical Cyclone Trevor has smashed houses, speared trees through windows, and downed powerlines as it unloads up to 220km winds on Cape York.
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Severe Tropical Cyclone Trevor has smashed houses, speared trees through windows, and downed powerlines as it unloads up to 220km winds on Cape York.
Lockhart River, population 800, was on the edge of the 75km-wide eye of the storm as it hit a 300km-long stretch of the coast about 4pm.
Category-three Cyclone Trevor battered the former aboriginal mission as the tiny township felt the outer brunt of the “very destructive core” before it moved slowly inland last night.
Damaging to very destructive winds in the core of tropical #cycloneTrevor. Some images of damage from #LockhartRiver. For cyclone preparedness and safety advice: https://t.co/3AD7YyJhdg. For emergency assistance call Qld SES on 132 500 or 000. For info: https://t.co/Tw65a1FNqM pic.twitter.com/LF8fSP4Ii4
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) March 19, 2019
“We’re right in middle of it,’’ Lockhart River Mayor Wayne Butcher told The Courier-Mail.
“It is just howling, it’s a wild crazy screaming noise, the rain is horizontal, stuff is flying.
“I can hear things banging. I hope that’s not my roof about to lift off.”
He said a tree branch speared through the window of a building where about 10 elders and young children are housed.
“There’s trees down everywhere, houses are getting smashed by 180km/winds.
“It’ll be a massive clean-up.’’
Extra police and emergency crews were deployed ahead of very destructive winds, a storm surge on top of abnormally high tides, and torrential rain and thunderstorms across much of the Cape.
Disaster Co-ordinator Police Chief Superintendent Brian Huxley warned residents to stay indoors to avoid “missiles flying about at high speed”.
“Seek shelter and stay there until after the cyclone passes,’’ he said
“The Far North is very used to these large weather systems, every year we plan for and respond to quite significant weather events.
“We’re in a very good position to weather the storm.”
He said most housing in Lockhart River was capable of withstanding a category-four cyclone.
Downed power lines, flash flooding, damaged roads and displaced wildlife like large saltwater crocodiles will pose a hazard post-cyclone.
“We’ve been advised the weather system is going to affect right down to Cairns with heavy rain.”
He said many roads across the north could be cut by flash flooding and to heed the message “if it’s flooded, forget it”.
Cyclone Trevor will weaken as it crosses the northern Peninsula today, but may remain a category 1 cyclone until it enters the Gulf of Carpentaria about 4pm on Wednesday.
It is expected to reintensify in the Gulf and become a category-four cyclone by Friday.
The Daintree River, which posted 119-year record high flood levels in January, and the Mossman River are both on flood warnings with more than 100mm of rainfall forecast overnight.
SEVERE Tropical Cyclone Trevor has slammed into Cape York with the destructive eye of the cyclone visible on rain radar.
The high-end category-three cyclone, packing 220km/h winds with a 75km-wide destructive core, is crossing the coast just south of Lockhart River.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Weipa-based rain radar, at a 256km composition clearly shows the scale and breadth of the cyclone unloading on a 300km-long stretch of relatively unpopulated coastline.
Wind gusts of 117 km/hr recorded at #LockhartRiver as severe tropical #cycloneTrevor crosses the coast. Radar images at: https://t.co/ghLHHp4H1f pic.twitter.com/SjS8fzraN1
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) March 19, 2019
Lockhart River residents have prepared as best they can and are now playing the waiting game as Severe Tropical Cyclone Trevor barrels towards the Cape York coast.
The Bureau of Meteorology says the Category 3 cyclone is now “very close” to Lockhart River.
Lynn Layton, owner of Greenhoose bush camp accommodation six kilometres out of town, said she and her family had been hard at work since yesterday locking everything down.
“We’ve prepared as much as we can, we’ve put everything away, moved the cars undercover, moved stuff off the verandas, windows have been shut up and everything is as closed and locked up as possible,” she said.
Currently Severe Tropical Cyclone Trevor, category 3, is very close to #LockhartRiver. Centre position of 13.00S 143.6E at 4pm. Watch as the eye crosses the #Qld coast on our #Weipa radar at: https://t.co/6amb5Ur3Ha pic.twitter.com/jwCV9RBk97
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) March 19, 2019
“I went into town first thing in the morning today to stock up on food, water and fuel; we have enough to last a few days.”
Ms Layton said others were coming in to buy more supplies from The Freddy Clarence Moses Store as she was leaving.
“We’ve done everything we can, now we just have to watch and wait,” she said.
— Additional reporting by The Cairns Post
CYCLONE Trevor is already making its presence felt along the far north Queensland coast as the community braces for impact later today.
Tropical Cyclone Trevor is expected to make landfall just south of the Lockart River later this afternoon or early this evening.
Trevor’s intensity as of 1pm is classed at category three, with destructive winds near the core of up to 220 kilometres per hour.
The Bureau of Meteorology do not expect Trevor to increase in intensity overland but warn they cannot rule out that possibility.
BOM anticipate the Cyclone will continue to move southwest towards the Eastern Cape York Peninsula coast, weakening in strength until crossing directly over the town of Aurukun at an expected category one.
Cyclone Trevor is predicted to re-intensify rapidly as it enters the Gulf of Carpentaria and tracks towards the Northern Territory.
Abnormally high tides are expected between the Lockhart River and Cape Melville as the Cyclone strikes land.
People living in these areas are likely to be affected by flooding as should take measures to protect their property as much as possible, according to the Bureau.
SEVERE Tropical Cyclone Trevor, packing 220km/h winds, may yet turn into a category 4 system as it spears towards Cape York Peninsula.
As of about 11am category three Cyclone Trevor, located about 85km east-southeast of the tiny former aboriginal mission of Lockhart River, was rapidly intensifying and was due to hit the coast about 5pm today.
It was moving at about 9km/h in a west-southwest direction.
Police said the Lockhart River community will “go into lockdown” at 1pm.
Emergency services have urged residents in the warning areas to prepare their properties and evacuation plans before then, before it was too late, and to listen to updates on the situation.
Extra police and emergency crews have been deployed ahead of very destructive winds, a storm surge on top of abnormally high tides, and torrential rain and thunderstorms across much of the Cape.
The Bureau of Meteorology said the cyclone will most likely cross as a high-end category 3 system south of Lockhart River, “but further intensification to category 4 cannot be ruled out”.
Bruce Gunn from BOM said parts of Queensland north of Cairns could expect rainfalls of between 200mm and 400mm per day over the next few days.
Flooding and flash flooding is likely.
A warning zone remains for Pormpuraaw to Mapoon and Orford Ness to Cape Melville, including Lockhart River. A cyclone watch zone is in place for Mapoon to Cape York.
#TCTrevor now Cat 3, 120km East of Lockhart River. Community will go into lockdown at 1pm and is expected to cross coast late this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/twWdGnTEOi
— Queensland Police (@QldPolice) March 19, 2019
Lockhart River Mayor Wayne Butcher said the news of a 1pm lockdown came as heavy rain and wild winds were already lashing the community late this morning.
“Winds are whipping in from the west at about 80km/h now, coming around clockwise from the cyclone, as it gets closer,’’ he said.
“It’s been belting down rain for 15 hours straight.
“Disaster authorities reckon we’ll experience about 150km/h winds, but as the eye crosses the coast 50km south, we can expect wind gusts up to 220km/h from the tail end of the cyclone as the wind changes direction.
“That’ll be our greatest danger zone.’’
He earlier told The Courier-Mail the area was “just above the bullseye of the cyclone”.
“But this is a big one.
“We’re right in the firing line and we’ve got everyone as cyclone ready as we can be.”
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the community was very well prepared, with teams on the ground providing updates.
“At 1pm today, the whole community will go into lockdown,” she said.
“They need to stay in doors.
“They will not be able to leave because those destructive winds will intensify over the course of this afternoon.
“The elderly residents around Lockhart River have been moved to a place of safety.”
Mr Gunn described Tropical Cyclone Trevor as having a “very destructive” core which was about 75km wide and had wind gusts of about 220km/h. The 11.08am update from the BOM said it had sustained winds near the centre of 150km/h and wind gusts to 205km/h.
“This makes it the high end of a category 3 system,” he said.
Mr Gunn said the cyclone was a compact system and there was uncertainty surrounding it in terms of if it would intensify or change path.
Cyclone Trevor was expected to weaken as it crosses the northern Peninsula tonight and Wednesday, but may remain a category 1 cyclone until it enters the Gulf of Carpentaria later on Wednesday.
It is expected to reintensify “rapidly” in the Gulf, with the latest BOM tracking map expecting it to become a category 3 by Thursday.
Heavy rain and thunderstorm areas are in the immediate vicinity of Trevor while a separate band of shower and thunderstorms is affecting the northern Gulf of Carpentaria.
High level cloud is streaming further south from this system across the remainder of north Queensland with a torrential deluge as far south as Cairns overnight.
The Lockhart River area is not expected to experience inundation but Mr Gunn warned of coastal erosion and said there would be inundation in less populated areas further south.
“It is too soon to predict exactly how the system will progress, but models suggest the system may linger in the Gulf until the end of the week,’’ the Bureau of Meteorology’s Dr Richard Wardle said.
“This has the potential to be a protracted event.’’
The Joint Typhoon Warning System (JTWS), run by the United States Navy, has forecast a system reaching 260km wind gusts, a strong category-four, near Mornington Island by Friday.
“Over Cape York (TC Trevor) will weaken considerably, but it will emerge over the very warm waters of the Gulf of Carpentaria,’’ a JTWS bulletin said.
“At that point, the system is expected to rapidly intensify again, this time to 115 knots (213km/h), if not higher.’’
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES) Commissioner Katarina Carroll has urged safety first.
As the cyclone starts to impact communities tonight and tomorrow, she warned residents to stay indoors until the danger has passed.
“We have crews on the ground to help before the cyclone hits, and following the impact, as soon as it is safe,” Ms Carroll said.
“If the building you’re sheltering in begins to break up, immediately seek shelter under a strong table or bench or under a heavy mattress,’’ she said.
Emergency kits should be stocked with essential supplies including food, water, warm clothes, medications, first aid supplies, important documents, valuables, a battery-powered or wind up radio and sleeping gear.
Schools across the far north are currently preparing for Cyclone Trevor with the Department of Education urging parents and children to be vigilant over the coming days.
The department said safety is the top priority and local state schools in the affected area are undertaking preparations for the severe weather event and are securing school facilities.
Parents have been advised to check in with their individual childcare centres and schools to find out about closures.
WHAT TO DO
QFES is urging people in the affected area to finalise their preparation for the cyclone.
To do this, you should:
■ Check your emergency kit and make sure it’s stocked with essential items including food, water, dry clothes, medications, first aid supplies, important documents, valuables and a radio.
■ Get your property ready by securing large outdoor items like swing sets and trampolines.
Originally published as Cyclone Trevor has made landfall in Cape York near Lockhart River
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