Cyclone Yasi
Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi made landfall in early 2011, causing significant damage. Originating northwest of Fiji, the system started tracking westward on 26 January and intensified during the evening of 30 January. It was classified as a Category 3 cyclone on 31 January 2011, Category 4 late on 1 February and strengthened further the following day.
Yasi crossed the Australian coastline as a Category 5 severe tropical cyclone near Mission Beach around midnight on 2 February with maximum gusts around 285 km/h across an area between Ingham and Cairns. Yasi finally dissipated into a tropical low near Mount Isa twenty-two hours after it crossed the coast.
Since the storm passed between Cairns and Townsville, The North's largest centres suffered minor damage. However, the worst affected areas around Tully, Tully Heads, Silkwood, Mission Beach, Innisfail and Cardwell were devastated, with around 30% of the houses in Tully destroyed, along with at least 75% of the area's banana crop and about $500 million's damage to cane farms.
A storm surge estimated to have reached seven metres destroyed structures along the coast, pushing up to three hundred metres inland.
While Yasi is reckoned one of the most powerful cyclones to affect Queensland since records commenced, the 1899 cyclone Mahina in Princess Charlotte Bay and cyclones that struck Mackay (January 1918) and Innisfail (March 1918) seem comparable.
Image:
Track map of Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi of the 2010-11 Australian region cyclone season and the 2010-11 South Pacific cyclone season. The points show the location of the storm at 6-hour intervals. The colour represents the storm's maximum sustained wind speeds (Keith Edkins, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yasi_2011_track.png
Sources:
ABC News: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-05-25/cyclone-yasi/2730558
Bureau of Meteorology: Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi: http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone/history/yasi.shtml
Atorm Science Australia: https://www.ausstormscience.com/tropical-cyclones/historic-tropical-cyclones/tc-yasi/
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Yasi
