Queenslanders urged to prepare for potential second cyclone
Andrew Messenger
Queenslanders are being urged to be prepared for their second cyclone of the season, which could hit mid next week.
The premier, Steven Miles, has warned residents of north Queensland the storm brewing in the Coral Sea is likely to become a tropical cyclone by the end of the weekend. If the weather system does form into a cyclone, it would be known as Kirrily.
Miles said the route of the storm is still unknown:
It could head towards the Queensland coast, possibly around Townsville, but also possibly as far south as Rockhampton, or alternatively, it could head towards New Caledonia.
The Bureau of Meteorology has warned of a potential “severe impact” if it does hit the state. Tropical Cyclone Jasper, in December, flooded scores of communities around Cairns.
Key events
The WA department of fire and emergency services has issued further advice on the widespread power outages affecting Kalgoorlie and the wider Wheatbelt, Goldfields and Great Southern regions.
Here is the latest from them:
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There are 8,800 homes and businesses still without power across the network including 3500 in Perth Hills, 700 in parts of the Goldfields and 2000 in the Wheatbelt
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Crews are at work and aim to repair extensive damage to the network “in the next few days”.
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“There will be some customers who remain without power for a longer duration,” DFES said.
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Police are increasing patrols in the area to help assist the community
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People should treat all damaged infrastructure as if it is live
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Customers who have experienced an outage longer than 12 consecutive hours can apply for an extended outage payment once power is reconnected
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Water supply disruptions are continuing – people may experience a total loss of water or low pressure
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Power has been restored to some Ambulance Stations however some people remain unable to call Triple Zero (000)
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Major hospitals are operational
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Branches from Westpac, NAB, ANZ, CBA and Bankwest have power and will be open for business in Kalgoorlie
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Non-essential travel should be postponed, and people planning travel to the area should reconsider
Tory Shepherd
Peregrine’s final moments tracked in Canberra
Canberra’s Deep Space Station Network tracked Peregrine’s final moments, as the moon lander burned up on re-entry to Earth’s atmosphere.
The lander’s mission to reach the lunar surface was foiled by a fuel leak not long after launch – but it would have been the first US moon landing in 50 years.
Please enjoy this footage of of the network’s antenna, Deep Space Station 36, ‘watching’ it go down:
DSN outreach manager, Glen Nagle, said the US company Astrobotic and NASA would make official announcements about the re-entry, but that they were proud to have played their role. He said:
In our control room, people were watching and expressed how fascinating it was seeing the steadiness of the spacecraft’s signal throughout the final moments.
On our screens the signal [was] dropping fast, which was very evocative of what would have been Peregrine’s final plunge into Earth’s atmosphere. Suddenly the signal was gone, signalling for us the end of the mission.
Caitlin Cassidy
Editor of the Kalgoorlie Miner Neil Watkinson has had one of the biggest 24 hours of his career.
Power died in their office just before 6pm on Wednesday evening and didn’t return until this morning. But against the odds they managed to get a paper out.
“There were two key elements,” he says.
We have a battery system backup that kicks in if the power goes out, but it only has a limited life. We could have our computers on but didn’t have power to the server – internet, or email, and most reporters didn’t have phone reception.
For some reason I’m still not entirely sure of, my phone was able to mobile hotspot for the entire day. I was expecting one or both to go out at any point in which case we would’ve been completely blind. We developed all these alternate strategies – down to a plan where we might physically take a photo of the text we had written and text that photo to the subs [in Perth] who would rewrite it all out. That would’ve been insane.
With no air conditioner in 42 degree heat they were able to “keep the Kalgoorlie Miner chugging for another day”.
The paper came on the truck this morning. Everyone was hot and bothered but we were out on the ground amongst the community, doing what we have always done.
Repair of Kalgoorlie power lines could take up to a week, mayor says
Glenn Wilson, mayor of the Kalgoorlie-Boulder council, is providing an update on the widespread outages following Wednesday night’s storm.
As we reported earlier, the main transmission line for Kalgoorlie’s power sustained significant damage and there are five power lines down. The community has been told the outage may last for up to one week as these are repaired.
Thousands are without power, with the outage also affecting the water supply and some mobile connectivity.
Speaking on a Facebook livestream, Wilson thanked the community for their patience, and the local power agencies and emergency services for their efforts.
He said the council looks forward to working with premier Roger Cook to look at safeguarding Kalgoorlie’s energy reliability for the long-term, to prevent things like this from happening.
To have our backup go down [as well] is not good enough.
There was a previous week-long power outage in 2017.
Caitlin Cassidy
Kelly Price has just had her power come back on in Kalgoorlie after two days of a near-total blackout.
Apart from a moment last night where we had power for about nine minutes we’ve had no power since Wednesday.
It’s been rough, I’m not going to lie, but we’ve managed. We’ve got a house that’s tiled so we basically lay and slept on the floors just to keep cool, or we’ve been under the hose entertaining the kids.
They’ve lost “almost everything” out of the fridge and freezer after failing to pick up ice yesterday:
It was just chaos throughout town – everyone was trying to get their supplies as well, blocking intersections … we’ve got to grin and bear it but the government does need to wake up and consider how they can improve the infrastructure.
Cute news alert!
The NSW Rural Fire Service has rescued a very adorable koala joey.
Volunteers from the Lynwood Park brigade rescued the distressed koala joey from a tree in St Helens Park – volunteers initially tried to coax him down, but the bear “just wouldn’t drop”.
The RFS wrote on X:
With the help of a ladder, modified poles and a fire blanket, the crew was eventually able to euca-lift him out of the tree.
Yesterday, Lynwood Park Brigade rescued a distressed koala joey in St Helens Park. Though they tried to coax him down, this bear just wouldn’t drop. With the help of a ladder, modified poles and a fire blanket, the crew was eventually able to euca-lift him out of the tree. pic.twitter.com/Fh17xcocvU
— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) January 19, 2024
WA swelters, with the Pilbara forecast to reach 50C
Some West Australians are sweltering through extreme heat, with parts of the state’s north forecast to reach more than 50C, AAP reports.
The Pilbara is expected to hit those intense temperatures either on the weekend or early next week, according to private forecaster Weatherzone. The hottest Australian temperature ever recorded was 50.7C in the Pilbara town of Onslow on 13 January 2022.
Weatherzone predicts that record could break due to a large mass of hot air hovering over the region:
This air mass has the potential to be hotter than usual, even by the Pilbara’s standards, due to enhanced warming from a phenomenon called subsidence.
Australia has only registered official temperatures above 50C on seven occasions. The Bureau of Meteorology has slightly more conservative forecasts for WA’s far north but temperatures are still expected to hit the high 40s.
Josh Taylor
Faruqi says Meta has questions to answer on alleged suppression of pro-Palestinian content
The acting federal Greens leader, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, says Meta has questions to answer after Guardian Australia reported the company’s response to concerns she had raised about suppression of Palestinian voices during the Israel-Gaza war.
Meta has blamed bugs for issues of suppression and translation problems reported by pro-Palestinian accounts and denied that there is ongoing censorship of their content, but Faruqi said there continued to be reports of suppression of content from Gaza and from activists and supporters of Palestine.
She said the eSafety commissioner must intervene if Meta is actively censoring its platform in such a way, and ensure “that people have the ability to share news about the atrocities being committed in Gaza by Israel and to activate and organise for an end to Israel’s occupation and apartheid.”
She said:
In no scenario should Palestinian voices be silenced or people stopped from sharing their suffering.
Power restored to ‘most parts’ of WA goldfields but Kalgoorlie still in the dark
Western Australia’s premier, Roger Cook, has provided an update on the widespread power outages following what he earlier called “unprecedented summer storms”. He said power has been restored to “most parts” of the Goldfields and that people have access to food, water and fuel. Cook wrote on X:
I want to thank every single person involved in these efforts – this achievement is nothing short of extraordinary given the challenging circumstances.
He added that Western Power was able to restore power to 10,000 homes and businesses last night in the region, including Kalgoorlie, Merredin and Kellerberrin.
However, as we flagged earlier, the main transmission line for Kalgoorlie’s power sustained significant damage and there are five powerlines down, which means repairs will take “some time”. The community has been told to prepare for power outages lasting up to one week.
Cook said:
I understand this has been a frustrating and inconvenient experience for residents and businesses.
I’d like to thank everyone for their patience as we worked to get power back online as quickly as possible.
Every Western Australian knows Goldfields locals are made of tough stuff – and that’s really been on full display this week.
Queenslanders urged to prepare for potential second cyclone
Andrew Messenger
Queenslanders are being urged to be prepared for their second cyclone of the season, which could hit mid next week.
The premier, Steven Miles, has warned residents of north Queensland the storm brewing in the Coral Sea is likely to become a tropical cyclone by the end of the weekend. If the weather system does form into a cyclone, it would be known as Kirrily.
Miles said the route of the storm is still unknown:
It could head towards the Queensland coast, possibly around Townsville, but also possibly as far south as Rockhampton, or alternatively, it could head towards New Caledonia.
The Bureau of Meteorology has warned of a potential “severe impact” if it does hit the state. Tropical Cyclone Jasper, in December, flooded scores of communities around Cairns.
Aged care residents evacuated after fire breaks out
Residents at an aged care facility north of Adelaide have been evacuated after a fire broke out at the centre, AAP reports.
Fire crews were called to the blaze in Angle Vale on the Adelaide Plains about 9am today. The fire started in the ceiling of the communal hall, triggering the alarm and sprinkler system.
All residents were safely evacuated from the building without any injuries. It took more than 20 firefighters to extinguish the blaze, given the difficult location.
Investigators do not believe the fire was suspicious, although the aged care facility sustained about $400,000 worth of damage.
After announcing the Queensland supermarkets inquiry, premier Steven Miles highlighted the issue on X with this example:
A Queensland farmer is selling this 7kg watermelon by the side of the road for $10, because he can’t afford to sell it for the $4 he was offered by the supermarkets. At the checkout, people are paying close to $20.
A Queensland farmer is selling this 7kg watermelon by the side of the road for $10, because he can’t afford to sell it for the $4 he was offered by the supermarkets.
At the checkout, people are paying close to $20. pic.twitter.com/1HUx6Dij46
— Steven Miles (@StevenJMiles) January 19, 2024
Steven Miles announces Queensland supermarkets inquiry
Major supermarkets will face a Queensland parliamentary inquiry into the gap between the cost of groceries and what farmers are being paid for their produce.
The premier, Steven Miles, announced the inquiry on Friday, following meetings with Coles, Woolworths and Aldi. He said:
They were good meetings and they were concerned about the concerns that I was raising with them.
They all agreed to participate in that parliamentary inquiry.
Supermarket chains have come under scrutiny after recording large profits, while consumers struggle with cost of living pressures. Miles said detailed scrutiny of supermarket chains was “fitting” for the kinds of concerns the government had heard from farmers and consumers.
Transparency and scrutiny is a key first step in both addressing the way our farmers are treated as well as delivering cheaper groceries for Queensland families.
– AAP
Good news! Wild and captive honeyeaters have bred in a breakthrough
Conservationists are celebrating the birth of three rare honeyeater chicks as the result of a potentially species-saving breeding program. Captive-born regent honeyeaters have successfully bred with birds in the wild to produce the babies, conservation program coordinators revealed on Friday.
With only between 250 and 300 of the rare songbirds estimated to remain in the wild, every successful breeding event is critical for the endangered species.
Sydney’s Taronga Zoo, which runs the breeding program, released two female regent honeyeaters into the Tomalpin woodlands in the NSW Hunter Valley in October 2021.
Since then, one of the females flew more than 134km west to Capertee national park, northeast of Bathurst, where she and a wild male produced two fledglings in spring.
The other female was spotted with a wild-born partner in the upper Hunter region late in 2023 having previously hatched a wild chick with a fellow captive-bred partner.
The pair were the first known zoo-bred regent honeyeaters to successfully reproduce in the wild in NSW.
– AAP
