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Cost of Cyclone Yasi to Australia will be in the billions

Peter Stone — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 18:30:06 +0000

Cyclone Yasi, pictured here, is expected to cost more than $2 billion in damages in Australia. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Australia was nearly paralyzed as Cyclone Yasi slammed into the northeast coast of Queensland recently. The Category Five storm devastated coastal areas of Queensland, already heavily damaged from heavy flooding. The damage from Cyclone Yasi is expected to be more than $2 billion.

Agricultural areas decimated by Cyclone Yasi

Just after the Australian state of Queensland had experienced the worst flooding in a century, Cyclone Yasi slammed into the region. The cyclone strengthened from a Category Four to a Category Five just before making landfall. Initially the size of Hurricane Katrina, the storm grew to nearly the size of the United States, according to the Christian Science Monitor. Queensland is one of the chief agricultural areas in Australia, and damage is thought to be near catastrophic. The agricultural losses are already thought to be at least $1 billion, with another billion in damaged property. An estimated 30 percent of the sugar cane crop in Australia is expected to be lost, which could cost as much as $500 million. The Australian banana crop has also been severely affected, with 75 percent thought to be lost.

World food prices skyrocket

As news of the pending cyclone and possible loss of crops spread, world food prices began to rise, according to Reuters. Losses of banana and sugar cane crops in Australia, combined with loss of wheat from the Midwest snow storms in the U.S. are likely to send the price of bread, sugar and bananas sky high. American wheat prices already have begun rising in the wake of the winter storm, which has been nicknamed “Stormageddon.” Nearly half of the United States is covered in snow and ice, with freezing temperatures setting in after the snow storm.

Heavy damage from La Nina

Weather this year has been chiefly attributed to the weather pattern known as “La Niña,” according to The Telegraph. The phenomenon results in lower ocean surface temperatures and atmospheric pressure, which is the opposite effect that an El Niño has. Results of La Niña periods are often wetter, colder winters in the United States and Canada along with milder summers. In the southern hemisphere, the rainy season usually has heavier rainfall and stronger cyclones.

Sources

Christian Science Monitor

Reuters

The Telegraph

Queensland coast of Australia braces for Cyclone Yasi

Peter Stone — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 17:02:54 +0000

Cyclone Yasi, a storm the size of Hurricane Katrina, is about to slam into Queensland, Australia. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

The northeast coast of Australia is bracing for the landfall of Cyclone Yasi. Yasi is a tropical storm heading for the already battered state of Queensland, which recently experienced some of the worst flooding on record. The storm has roughly the same force as Hurricane Katrina.

Cyclone Yasi about to batter coast of Queensland

The state of Queensland, which comprises the northeast corner of Australia, is bracing for flooding and rain in anticipation of the impact of Tropical Cyclone Yasi, according to The Telegraph. The storm will be making landfall sometime by Wednesday, Feb. 2, and bring with it winds of 175 miles per hour and deadly flash flooding. The area that could be affected by the storm is roughly the size of England, Scotland and Wales combined. The storm was recently upgraded to a Category Four storm and is so large that the it could take more than an hour for the eye of the storm to pass overhead. The last cyclone of similar size was Cyclone Larry in 1996, which caused more than $1.5 billion in damage.

Storm the size of Hurricane Katrina

The cyclone is roughly the size of Hurricane Katrina, which battered the Gulf Coast of the United States and wreaked havoc in the city of New Orleans in 2005. Yasi is almost 300 miles wide and could affect an area larger than 400 miles across and up to 600 miles inland from the Queensland coast, according to Reuters. Industrial centers, mines and schools have been closed. More than 9,000 people have been evacuated. Anna Bligh, the Premier of Queensland, has described the storm as “life threatening.” The storm is also expected to devastate the sugar cane and banana crops of Innisfail, a major agricultural center. Australia is currently the third largest exporter of sugar cane in the world.

Queensland still recovering from flooding

The state of Queensland is still recovering from December flooding that killed 35 people and left almost two-thirds of the area waterlogged. Those floods have already caused more than $5 billion in damage, according to the Christian Science Monitor, and were exacerbated by Tropical Cyclone Tasha, which came along with a far wetter than normal monsoon season that caused severe flash flooding throughout the state of Queensland.

Sources

The Telegraph

Reuters

Christian Science Monitor