FEAR WAS REAL AS STORM NEARED FIVE years earlier Innisfail had been the unwelcome focal point of Cyclone Larry, so when another, even more powerful storm seemed to be heading their way, the fear was palpable. Firefighter Steve Wilson has lived in the Cassowary Coast town for more than 30 years and still remembers the underlying tension as Yasi approached - both among his colleagues and the entire town. On February 3, 2011, his team, their families and pets locked themselves in the fire station - a sturdy building on Fitzgerald Esplanade - reinforcing the front door with big metal beams. Once the winds hit 80km/h, no trucks are allowed out the door, he said.
Cyclone hurtled towards the coast âlike a freight trainâ Harry and Kitty Anning are standing behind their Babinda bar preparing as a mega storm builds in the Coral Sea. This is how the next 12 hours unfolded.
Weather 2nd Feb 2021 6:12 PM
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Subscriber only IN A pensive moment frozen in time, Harry and Kitty Anning stand behind the bar of the Babinda State Hotel as a mega storm builds in the Coral Sea. Kitty Anning, an emergency radio gripped in her hands, grimly imagined what was in store over the next 12 hours as severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi slowly but surely tracked westward from Fiji.