Category 5 tropical cyclone to hit Australia's north coast on Friday. Winds of up to 300 km/h

Yes Tom, Ita is going to be fun, suggesting a storm surge of 14 metres but fortunately a sparsely populated area. A mine by the sea side at 2 metres elevation has already evacuated, but some expect to be cut off for weeks. The latest information suggests it will kiss the coast and move back into the Coral Sea to bless those further south with rain, etc. The same cyclone has already devastated the Solomon Islands. These late cyclones are the ones you really have to be wary of. I'm waiting for some opportunist nut to tells us this is the result of AGW

http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDQ65002.shtml

The forecast has been revised from category 2 to category 4 at Cooktown so it looks like the area that has been devasted a couple of times in recent years will cop it again, there goes the banana crop again, no more banana republic. They are talking about 300mm (12 inches) a day for several days. If you don't own a boat you are up the creek without a paddle

I was hearing it's a Category 5 on the news yesterday... but then we all know how reliable the news is when it comes to facts.

You can look at the update map on my earlier post, it has been downgraded to category 4 as it crosses the coast but some satellite images indicate it is intense and still offshore. No reports of serious damage yet but it is night 11.20 pm EST

For those who might be interested Ita has left Australia after dumping massive amounts of rain in NQ and is now headed across the Tasman for NZ. It seems we might have learned something about building codes after a few of these, what remains is what to do with the water, many ideas come to mind including the turn the rivers inland approach

You can Bottle it and sell it to the fools that won't drink prefectly good tapwater? (those of us that actually do have it anyway)

no that's a AGW nightmare, transporting water around the world, I don't think you would want to drink the tapwater where I live, highly chlorinated and full of manganese, definately an acquired taste

Very possible... except when I was living in Italy... (the US Army warned us against drinking the water there due to e-coli and other nasties in it) I didn't even cook with it as a result... but it really wasn't THAT bad... you just wouldn't drink it as it was. I've been fortunate enough to have decent tap water... though the Water in Washington DC isn't the best tasting... its highly chlorinated. At my house less than 30 km away its actually pretty good tasting. As it was where I grew up and the places I lived elsewhere in the region.

I know its not universally true for a lot of people.

I prefer rainwater but our unenlightened council won't allow us to store it for drinking, but then I understand the benefits of sustainable living

use a charcoal filter system like Brita . That reduces most of the chlorine . However ,if you are concerned about the chlorine then you should put a filter where the water enters your pipes as well . Chlorine is absorbed through the skin when you shower .

Yes it seems we must protect ourselves from the dogooders

Coral Sea, Solomon Islands - those names sure bring back the War in the Pacific.

Hope this cyclone blows away from land.

Yes it is gone now but not before making a mess in two nations