3. februar 2011
En stor cyklon er på vej hen over Australiens norldige østkyst- her er en opdatering fra vores samarbejdspartner i Australien
Dear Sending Partner
As you may be aware, the Cairns area of Queensland will be hit by a category 6 cyclone late this evening (approx 10.00pm Wednesday night).
Whilst this is a very serious situation, thankfully this has been known about for a few days giving people time to evacuate. We have spoken to a few people who have evacuated from the Whitsunday Islands who are now in Brisbane and some people who are in evacuation centres in Cairns.- everyone is fine. We have no reason to believe that any of our members are in danger, and there are not likely to be many travellers in these areas at this time of year due to the fact that it is the rainy season. Most of the members we have been speaking to recently have been in Melbourne.
Over the next 24 hours there are likely to be power outages and phone lines going down, so it may be hard for people to be reached until everything is back up and running. The phone and electricity companies are on standby to have these issues fixed as quickly as possible, but this may mean that parents are unable to reach their children if they are calling this evening. Please assure them that this does not mean that anything has happened to the person they are calling.
We have sent an email today asking members in Far North Queensland to call their families if possible to let them know they are safe. However this may not be possible after about 10.00pm tonight. Airlie Beach has already experienced power outages due to storms.
After the cyclone there is likely to be heavy winds, and it is expected that the worst will be over by Thursday at 11.00am Australia time.
I am sure that some of you will receive phone calls from worried parents, but hopefully the fact that the vast majority of people have evacuated the problem areas will bring some comfort.
I will update you all with any relevant news over the next few days and please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Regards,
Sharron
