Cardwell residents relieved to have dodged Tropical Cyclone Kirrily’s wrath

Cassowary Coast communities have emerged almost completely unscathed despite initial fears Tropical Cyclone Kirrily would wreak havoc on the region.

Cardwell can breath easy after narrowly missing the full force of Tropical Cyclone Kirrily. Image: Brendan Radke

Cassowary Coast communities have emerged almost completely unscathed despite initial fears Tropical Cyclone Kirrily would wreak havoc on the region.

The Category 3 cyclone hit Townsville around 8.30pm on Thursday with residents reporting howling winds, trees going down on cars, fences and ripping off the roofs of some sheds.

But the Far North copped relatively little of Kirrily’s rage with SES receiving just seven cyclone related call-outs in the Far North during the major weather event.

“Three were flood related (calls), two were structural concerns, one was a call-out to a tree going down and another unspecified,” a QFES spokeswoman said.

Almost 200 residents in Cardwell, Carruchan, Ellerbeck, Ingham and Rungoo were without power on Friday while Ergon scrambled to reconnect more than 50,000 properties closer to Townsville.

Aerial view of the township of Cardwell in Far North Queensland. In 2011, Cyclone Yasi crossed directly over the town, destroying buildings and infrastructure. The highway and the foreshore were later completely rebuilt. Picture: Brendan Radke

The Bureau of Meteorology recorded peak gusts of 35km/h at Innisfail but Lucinda, south of Cardwell, copped the brunt with wind gusts reaching up to 100km/h just before 9pm, Thursday night.

In Cardwell, around 30 guests bunkered down at the Beachcomber Motel and Tourist Park as the cyclone approached the coast on Thursday night.

Strong winds foreshadowed TC Kirrily’s arrival but the community emerged intact, manager Desiree Lake said.

“It was gusty overnight but we had no more than an inch of rain,” Ms Lake said.

“Once it crossed the coast we settled in and we had no problems.

“We have had intermittent mobile service but we’re fine. There’s been no real damage. It’s really just branches on the ground.

“The guests went really well. They were comfortable and weren’t anxious at all.”

Euramo banana farmer Cameron Flegler is enjoying Australia Day after a tense build up to the public holiday.

Further north, relieved Euramo banana grower Cameron Flegler said he feared the worst earlier this week but was relieved to see his properties didn’t sustain any damage on Thursday night.

“We didn’t even lose power or phone reception,” Mr Flegler said.

“I got no wind here. There hasn’t been any big coastal rain so far, either.

“You wouldn’t have known anything had happened. I’ll just take the day off now and enjoy Australia Day.”

Following Australia Day, reviving tourism in Cardwell would be the township’s next major challenge, Ms Lake said.

“It’s absolutely empty here,” she said.

“People have probably been scared away.

“There goes another public holiday in town where it’s been an absolute no-show. It’s a disappointing time for business owners.

“But we’ve had some big ones (cyclones) before and we didn’t need another one.

“We always prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”

Cassowary Coast councillor Jeff Baines said communities in TC Kirrily’s potential firing line had prepared well for the wet weather event.

Cassowary Coast councillor Jeff Baines said the region had responded well to the cyclone threat.

“We’ve got a pretty resilient community that’s just been through (ex-Tropical Cyclone) Jasper but I think we’ve come out of this (weather event) pretty well all right,” Mr Baines said.

“We had our Australia Day Awards in Innisfail on Thursday night with around 300 people in attendance.

“Some people didn’t travel from our southern communities due to the flood risk but it was still a great event.”

Hunter Cairns, 9, rides his new bicycle through large puddles caused by heavy rain fall at Holloways Beach. Picture: Brendan Radke

WET WEEKEND AHEAD

Meanwhile, the Far North is set for a return to grey skies and humid mornings, however low rainfall totals are expected according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

While a severe weather warning was issued to the Tropical North Coast on Thursday night, meteorologist Daniel Hayes, confirmed it was stood down around 9am, Friday.

“We had a severe weather warning for North Tropical Coast overnight into this morning due to the stronger winds coming in over the top of the mountains, causing downslope winds. So power outages in Redlynch were likely due to those winds bringing down trees in the area,” Mr Hayes said.

As ex-Tropical Cyclone Kirrily made landfall, the Tablelands had the heaviest showers in the Far North, recording between 60mm and 70mm.

“Further north had a little less. Tinaroo Creek got 60mm as well so pretty decent falls in that area. Mareeba peaked minor flood levels overnight, with a few minor flood issues in the catchment, but those have peaked and have now fallen back to normal levels,” he said.

Mr Hayes said the region could expect relatively mild weather conditions for the weekend.

“There may be some shower and storm activity around for the Tablelands and areas particularly close to where the system is. Overall, there’s a chance of showers around but no big falls are expected,” he said.

With the tropical low moving inland, Mr Hayes said temperatures were beginning to pick up.

“Minimum temperatures were looking at about 23 degrees overnight as showers were coming through but temperatures we recorded temperatures of 28 degrees at 4am around Cairns,” he said.

“Going forward it’ll be pretty warm and humid. There’s a low intensity heatwave for lower parts of the coast which just means anyone out and about doing clean up should stay hydrated.”

At 1.22am on Friday, a flood alert was issued by Tablelands Regional Council.

“Intense rainfall from Tropical Cyclone Kirrily may lead to dangerous flash flooding.

For flood and storm emergency help, call the SES on 132 500 or download the SES,” the warning read.

It was downgraded to a stay informed alert at 6.30am.

Originally published as Cardwell residents relieved to have dodged Tropical Cyclone Kirrily’s wrath