Cyclone Marcia

On Tuesday, 17 March a severe weather warning of issued for Capricornia as a tropical low pressure system laid over the Coral Sea 1050 km north northeast of Bundaberg. The next day, residents were asked to prepare themselves for the combined impact of king tides and a potential cyclone which was expected to cross the coast on Friday. The 8 pm Wednesday update announced that Cyclone Marcia had officially formed and was expected to reach category 2.

Panic buying started late on the 18th and continued on the 19th of March. Most of us who live a simple life stockpile as it's a great way to reduce costs and resources. But why people go out and buy 10 loaves of bread and 20 L of milk when you expect a cyclone and the associated power outages is beyond my comprehension. You need to have access to fresh water and some tin food. Power can be out for days and it's vital you're prepared. If you're prepared, there's no need for panic buying.

During Thursday, people continued to prepare themselves. I guess most people were worried about the flooding. In the past heavy rain has cut off the highway at several locations and therefore trucks were unable to deliver supplies. Sandbags were handed out and Marcia continued to intensified rapidly.

The 11 pm update announced that severe tropical cyclone Marcia has slightly changed course and is moving south southwest towards Central Queensland at 7km/hr as a category 4 system, still with the potential of making landfall as a category 5.

Category 5! What does this mean? The Bureau of Metereology explains Tropical cyclone intensity and impacts here. See an extract below:

Tropical Cyclone Category System

CATEGORY 1 (tropical cyclone)

Negligible house damage. Damage to some crops, trees and caravans. Craft may drag moorings.

A Category 1 cyclone's strongest winds are GALES with typical gusts over open flat land of 90 - 125 km/h.

These winds correspond to Beaufort 8 and 9 (Gales and strong gales).

CATEGORY 2 (tropical cyclone)

Minor house damage. Significant damage to signs, trees and caravans. Heavy damage to some crops. Risk of power failure. Small craft may break moorings.

A Category 2 cyclone's strongest winds are DESTRUCTIVE winds with typical gusts over open flat land of 125 - 164 km/h. These winds correspond to Beaufort 10 and 11 (Storm and violent storm).

CATEGORY 3 (severe tropical cyclone)

Some roof and structural damage. Some caravans destroyed. Power failures likely.

A Category 3 cyclone's strongest winds are VERY DESTRUCTIVE winds with typical gusts over open flat land of 165 - 224 km/h.

These winds correspond to the highest category on the Beaufort scale, Beaufort 12 (Hurricane).

CATEGORY 4 (severe tropical cyclone)

Significant roofing loss and structural damage. Many caravans destroyed and blown away. Dangerous airborne debris. Widespread power failures.

A Category 4 cyclone's strongest winds are VERY DESTRUCTIVE winds with typical gusts over open flat land of 225 - 279 km/h.

These winds correspond to the highest category on the Beaufort scale, Beaufort 12 (Hurricane).

CATEGORY 5 (severe tropical cyclone)

Extremely dangerous with widespread destruction.

A Category 5 cyclone's strongest winds are VERY DESTRUCTIVE winds with typical gusts over open flat land of more than 280 km/h.

These winds correspond to the highest category on the Beaufort scale, Beaufort 12 (Hurricane).

Alerts were issued during the night and people in low lying areas were being evacuated. Emergency sirens sounded in the coastal town of Yeppoon. Evacuation centres were opened. Business advised they will remain closed on the Friday, 20 March - the day Marcia is supposed to hit. Heavy rain overnight already flooded many areas.

On 20 March 2015 at 4 am, severe tropical cyclone Marcia had intensified to a category 5 system - the highest category cyclone there is. Sustained winds near the centre were 205 km/h with wind gusts up to 285 km/h.

Emergency Services and residents worked frantically to prepare. Further evacuations were undertaken, airports were closed and business sandbagged.  At 8.20 am severe tropical cyclone Marcia, category 5, crossed the coast near Shoalwater Bay north of Yeppoon.

The following hours were harvoc. I'm currently at work on Barrow Island in WA and Steve was planning to drive home on Thursday after he spend a few days with his mates. Hera was in the kennel. Unfortunately he was a bit too optimistic and decided to break up his trip and stay overnight at Bargara. Why you would want to stay in beach side accommodation when a cat 5 cyclone is about to hit is beyond my comprehension. But at that time at that location there was some rain, some wind and that was it. At 4 am Bargara lost power and Steve ventured home early in the morning, picked up Hera and arrived home just as the cyclone made landfall. So he had a few hours to prepare our home.

We knew we were going to loose power but we bought a generator a while back which will keep the pumps, freezer and a small fridge going. We're not connected to town water or sewerage, so it's important we can operate the pumps. I checked our insurance cover and excess and all we could do was hoping.

People were told to stay indoors and within minutes power was off. Colourbond roofs and even walls were peeled off by the wind like plastic. 285 km/h wind has a lot of force! One of the most dangerous times in a cyclone is when the eye hits you. Suddenly after all the wind and rain, it's sunny and calm. It depends on the size of the cyclone how long this will last for and some people think it, it's over and then are surprised that it all starts again. Luckily for most people on the east coast of Australia, a cyclone is a re-occurring event and most people are aware of it.

Marcia went over Yeppoon and Rock Hampton, destroying homes and business. She then slowly travelled to Rockhampton destroying power supply to the hospital and the wastewater treatment plants leaving residents without water and sewage.

At noon, it started to hit Bouldercombe where we live (red star).

By 3 pm, Marcia was still moving across. The power line was ripped out of the house, the trees were ripped out of the ground and everything was soaked while Hera was save in the shed and Steve ready to save what he could. For me being 5000 km away from home, those were the longest hours ever. I didn't care about the house, just Steve and the animals.

As the cyclone moved further south, it slowly lost its intensity. We were hit by a category 3 with recorded windgusts up to 260 km/h. We had over 300 mm of rain in less than 24 hours. But we were lucky.

The cyclone caused more damage the further it travelled and soon Biloela was flooded. People in Jambin were evacuated as the automatic gates of the Callide Dam opened. It took over 24 hours for this cyclone to go from a category 5 system back to a tropical low and it affected a stretch of 700 km of coastline and adjacent inland areas with heavy wind and rainfall. 

 Yeppoon as the cyclone wall approached.

Many buildings are destroyed or have suffered severe structural damage.

The wind played with these boats as they were toys.

This is Great Keppel Island Beach when we were there in July 2014. This is the view from the cabin we had booked.

This is the cabin which was booked for mid March and both Steve and I were really looking forward to it.

Unfortunately all 3 beach cabins were lost during the cyclone. This must be very heartbreaking for the owners.

The Pub on Great Keppel Island also has suffered extensive damage.



Today, many roads are closed, flooding is continuing but the sun is shining and Queenslanders do what makes them so special - get up, shake the bad things off and start cleaning and repairing.

At home, Steve is cleaning up and will replant some new trees as the ground is wet. We will have no power for at least 10 days but the generator will enable him to live relatively comfortable. We have gas for cooking and hot water and plenty of food in the freezer. By the time I go home on the 6th of March everything at home will be back to normal - unlike a lot of other poor people who have lost everything. I'm very grateful that nothing happened to Steve or the animals.

* Pictures from various sources of Facebook.