Ingrid: she’s not over until she’s over! by Helen Young
Today I'm picking up the batton from my colleague Elizabeth, who yesterday explained the path of Tropical Cyclone Ingrid. We left the action as Ingrid was about to strike land for the third time and that is exactly what has happened today.
She battered Australia’s sparsely populated northwest coast during the day on Wednesday. With winds gusting to 162mph(260kph; thank goodness it was sparsely populated.
Even so she still caused problems for the inhabitants. Trees were uprooted and power and water supplies were cut to the 330 residents of Kalumburu. A local police officer said that building materials were flying around and several buildings suffered minor damage. Now the concern is that heavy rain could flood local rivers which could hamper the task of the emergency services.
Ingrid first hit the northeast of Australia some six days ago and has moved west ever since across anything in its path; mostly island chains and open sea. It has now been downgraded to a category 2 storm and is expected to further weaken within 24 hours as it continues inland over a largely unpopulated section of Western Australia.
What has made Ingrid unusual is her longevity. Normally cyclones last around four to seven days; today is day 13 for Ingrid. She has also been rated by the Australia Bureau of Meteorology as the biggest cyclone ever to hit three Australian states. She will surely go down in history.
I suppose the question many will be asking is what next. It is after all the peak season for cyclones in this part of the world (mid Feb to mid March) but as yet no further cyclones are developing. However just to the north in the Philippines Typhoon Roke is soon to make its presence felt. Here typhoons can develop almost at any time of year although their peak seasons are really July to November and during January.
Storms such as these are also found elsewhere at this time of year. The north Indian Ocean can see cyclones from mid March to May so we’ll be watching any developments here too.
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