Cyclones provide important data

With a number of cyclones occurring in February and March, researchers from the Improving resilience of existing houses to severe wind events project at the Cyclone Testing Station at James Cook University have been hard at work in the field.

Cyclone Marcia (Queensland)

The CTS team and their associates completed a Rapid Damage Assessment Report following Cyclone Marcia in Central Queensland on 20 February. See the report on the CTS website.

CTS have also completed the field work of a more comprehensive damage investigation and are in the report write-up stage. There is also commentary on the CTS website about wind speeds in Rockhampton and Yeppoon during Cyclone Marcia, to help to address any errors or misconceptions that can have short and longer term consequences. 

Cyclone Lam (Northern Territory)

The CTS team followed Cyclone Lam closely but did not send a team. This event occurred at about the same time as Cyclone Marcia and we remained in contact with colleagues in the Northern Territory.

Cyclone Olwyn (Western Australia)

A CTS team went to Exmouth for a damage investigation following Cyclone Olwyn on 13 March. The Rapid Damage Assessment Report for Olwyn can be found here.

The decision to head to Exmouth for the damage investigation was carefully considered and the investigation is targeted to ensure new learning, including a comparison to performance in Cyclone Vance in 1999 and the performance of newer houses in the Exmouth area, including a specific focus on water ingress that has been reported to the team. 

Cyclone Nathan (Queensland)

Another CTS team led by David Henderson deploy six SWIRLNet anemometers in and around Cooktown when Nathan crossed the coast north of Cooktown on 20 March. All anemometers operated successfully during the event. The team have collected the equipment and are compiling that data. They have also reviewed conditions in and around Cooktown. A Rapid Assessment Report is available here.