Update no. 2 on Tanya DewhurstCopyright 2002 Tanya DewhurstTanya Dewhurst,
who regularly wrote for FTH from London and other points, continues to pursue her
avocation as a travel writer.
I got this from her on 4 Feb, 2002. She's back in her native land of Australia.
Sorry i haven't been able to respond to everyone personally, but I'm
having a bit of an email drama and now a bit of a weather one as well.
As you're probably aware (because I'm sure it's top story, headline
news
around the world), Port Hedland -- the stinky mudflat, iron ore of a
place that I'm currently hanging out at in the northwest of Australia
--
is pretty much in the direct line of Cyclone Chris, a category five
cyclone (whatever that means, but it sounds dramatic) that's been
brewing off the coast for a couple of days now. It's been coming
towards
us for the last 24 hours, and now we're on yellow alert, which means
the
pubs have shut so you'd better've bought your tinnies, cause otherwise
you're in for a very boring time.
So far, it's just been a lot of wind and rain, but if it hits -- and
they're predicting it to land around 3 am tomorrow, western aus time --
it will be about 100 kms (66 miles) east of us. Not sure what kind of
winds we'll get then, but so far the center is gusting at 265 kms
(which
sounds fast in my book) and 125 at the edges. Big flooding is also
predicted, especially inland, so I'm a little concerned about a friend
who works out at a mine and is supposed to come into town in a few
days
and drive back to Perth with me! apparently they can get flooded in for
months! Apparently, we don't panic until we go on red alert, and
usually
everyone's pissed by then, so who cares. But nobody leaves; you pretty
much nail everything shut, lock yourself in the dunny and hope the beer
lasts.
Anyway, if you want to stay updated, you can read all about it at the
Aussi bureau of meteorology
Will try and email you all when it's all over; I'm staying at some
friend of friends where it's pretty safe and everything will be fine,
but already we're low on beer.
Miss and love ya'll
Tanya xxx
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