Ayr, Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays to meet Cyclone Debbie

by John Curnow on 26 Mar 2017 Having intensified to a Cat2 TC now and Cat4 when it will make landfall, Debbie is expected to hit during the course of Monday night and into Tuesday morning (0400hrs). Thus far, there have been police enforced evacuations around Ayr, as it is expected that this will be the biggest event since the all-powerful TC5 Yasi hit back in 2011.

Amazingly, there are also reports of residents refusing to leave, despite direction to do so, which will make it hard for emergency services. Information about that is available from Here

There area is of course a popular Winter cruising and racing zone, but the tides expected as part of all this could well be more than devastating, which is why residents in the red and orange zones are directed to go now, and the yellow zones are advised to do similarly. More Information.

The Bureau of Meteorology have indicated that TC Debbie will make Cat3 tonight here. Her path and expected track can be seen here. All other information about her can be found here

News items about it all The The Courier The Australian