Tropical Cyclone Larry

Landfall | Summary
Posting Date: March 20, 2006, 3:15:00 PM

On Sunday, March 19, 2006, 21:30 UTC, (March 20, 7:30 a.m. local time) Cyclone Larry made landfall near the town of Innisfail, Queensland, about 100 km south of the city of Cairns. Larry was the most powerful tropical cyclone to hit Australia in thirty years. According to the Australia Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), maximum sustained winds at landfall were 190 kph (118 mph) with gust of up to 290 kmh (180 mph). At landfall, Cyclone Larry was a Category 5 storm on the BOM scale and a Category 3 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. As of 10:30 pm local time, Monday, January 20, Cyclone Larry was located about 55 km south of Croydon, Queensland. Minimum central pressure, as reported by the Australia Bureau of Meteorology, has risen to 990 mb. However, wind speeds increased as the center of the storm system traveled inland over elevated terrain. Cyclone Larry is currently moving west-southwest at 30 km hour and is forecast to cross the southern Gulf Country district overnight. The swath of Larry’s destructive winds stretched from Port Douglas, about 50 km north of Cairns, to Ingham, about 250 km south of Cairns, according to the BOM. The storm hit Queensland’s northern coast damaging houses, uprooting large trees, knocking down kilometers of power lines, and devastating crops. The storm cut power to over 120,000 homes, injured 30 people and left thousands homeless. There have been no reports of fatalities. Local sources report that up to 10,000 homes in northern Queensland have been damaged. Extensive roof and structural damage has been reported in Innisfail, a town of 8500. In the town of Babinda (population 1200) just north of Innisfail, 80 percent of houses are reported damaged. Damage was also reported in Cairns, Atherton, Eacham, Mareeba, Cardwell, Silkwood, Mourilyan, and Tully. Cyclone Larry was the most powerful storm to hit Australia since Cyclone Tracy hit the northern city of Darwin on December 24, 1974, killing 71 people and destroying nearly 70 percent of the buildings in the city. Area authorities are now warning residents about Cyclone Wati, currently a Category 2 storm (BOM scale), that is still out over the ocean but is forecast to follow a similar path to that of Cyclone Larry. Using the latest available information about the meteorological parameters of this storm, the AIR tropical cyclone team has run simulations representing a variety of assumptions about the storm’s actual intensity and radius of maximum winds at landfall. Five of these are now posted on the Scenarios page of this website, where clients can view wind speed and loss maps. Events sets are available for download from the Events Sets page. Note that all losses are denoted in Australian dollars (AUD).

Landfall | Downloads
Posting Date: March 20, 2006, 3:15:00 PM