ITA Could Become another Super Cyclone to Remember

EXTREME CLIMATIC EVENTS
SUPER CYCLONIC FORCE
MASS EVACUATIONS 
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Super Cyclone ITA Closes in on NE Australia, Evacuations Ordered

ITA is packing powerful winds in Coral Sea, rapidly developing to the most powerful storm to hit Australia since Cyclone YASI in 2011, which caused widespread destruction, with the damage bill estimated at A$3.5 billion.

ITA is currently packing sustained winds of more than 240 km/h with maximum wind gusts of up to 300km/hr.

Several models show the Super Cyclone could intensify further reaching sustained winds of up to 260 km/h with max. wind gusts of 325 km/h before striking the coast.

FIRE-EARTH models show ITA could generate destructive storm surges and tidal waves of up to 20 meters high, which could extensively flood low-lying areas.

ITA Location
At 14:00 UTC on Thursday April 10,  2014

ITA was located over the northern Coral Sea near 12.9ºS, 146.2ºE moving at about 12 km/h the Queensland coast.

Super Cyclone ITA – IR-WV satellite image timed at 13:32UTC on April 10, 2014. Source UW-CIMSS.

Current Evacuations

Queensland Premier said the cyclone could affect about 9,000 people, including residents and visitors in Port Douglas, as Lizard Island, a  Great Barrier Reef resort about 240km north of Cairns confirmed it had evacuated all its guests on Thursday, said Reuters.

Deaths in the Solomon Islands

ITA battered the Solomon Islands late last week, while still a tropical depression, killing at least two dozen people near the capital, Honiara, and leaving dozens more missing and more than 10,000 homeless, after intense flash flooding.

Authorities declared a State of Emergency, and a local newspaper, the  Solomon Star,  said:“This is the worst disaster the nation has seen.” 

Related Links

• Cyclone ITA Intensifying April 8, 2014

• YASI TAIL BUFFETS VICTORIA Posted on February 5, 2011
• Cyclone YASI Rainfall Rates – Satellite Images Posted on February 4, 2011
• MEGA CYCLONE YASI CAUSING MUCH DESTRUCTION Posted on February 3, 2011
• YASI a Mega Cyclone Posted on February 2, 2011
• YASI Could Become Super Cyclone Posted on February 1, 2011
• YASI: If the ‘Devil’ Were a Cyclone Posted on January 31, 2011