The North Western coastline of Australia is preparing tor the cyclone ‘Lua’ which is bearing down on the mainland.
Wind speeds of up to 175 kph have been measured but fortunately the impact on the population will be minimal as the area is sparsely populated. Rainfall is predicted to be heavy and the population have been ordered to not to drive in any of the area in which the cyclone will move across the land. Heavy fines will be imposed on people not adhering to this ruling.
Wave’s op up to 1 m in height will also hit the coastline and people have been warned not to approach any of the beaches in the path of the cyclone as the cyclone has intensified as it approaches the coast.
Staying in the region, the Philippines reported a quake of 5.7 on the Richter scale on the 16th of March but it was at sea and at a depth of 34 km with result that no tsunami warning was issued.
However, a newly built Mall in Dinagat will remain closed after the previous quake until such time as the authorities is satisfied that no structural damage was done.
Papua New Guinea also suffered a quake on the 14th of March at a depth of 48 km and measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale. No reports of death or serious injury have been reported in any of the quakes.
And to round off the quakes in the region, Japan also had a bit of a shake-up on the 14th of March but the quake was way out to see and at a depth of 10km with result no warning of a tsunami was issued and no one was affected on land.
At home it appears that the prediction of late summer rains have materialised with rain across a belt stretching from Botswana all the way down to the Eastern Cape.
More rain is expected and we should not relax our awareness of weather that really is becoming unpredictable. Soweto this week suffered one of those intense downpours that had many vehicles stranded in flash floods due to the intensity of the downpour.
This appears to be becoming more frequent!
Reporting for Hamnet, this is Francois Botha, ZS6BUU.
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