It's just been announced that 10 new cat 5 strength cyclone shelters will be built across North Qld.
the United Arab Emirates has given Qld a $30million gift. Anna Bligh announced this afternoon that this will be matched by the state government.
the shelters will be rated at cat 5 strength. will hold up to 500 people each.
the locations of the 10 shelters hasnt been decided yet. this will be in consultation with the local government areas.
more on tonights news!

I smell an early election coming on...

What do the United Arab Emirates want us to give them (or them give us) in return??

Just as long as they are put in population centres with only 500 people and only these places are hit by Category 5 cyclones in the future, she'll be right!

it is a gift of friendship from UAE.
the gift is 5 shelters, the other 5 are matched from the state government.
the Premier has announced at this stage the shelters will be built in -
Weipa
Cairns
Cassowary Coast
Townsville
Prosperpine
Mackay
Rockhampton

local council meetings will decide where they are built, and where the extra 3 will go. one would assume Cairns, Townsville and Mackay would get 2 each. thats an asumption.

the shelters will be multiuse, will be designed to be used all year around for community events, halls etc.

I think maybe one between Townsville and Cairns would be wise, since I don't think theres any there at the moment, and they're very frequently hit by cyclones *cough*Yasi, Larry*cough*

yeah but why build one there, and not give one to cairns and townsville when 95% of the population lives in the cities.

Be better to spend the money in the capital cities of NQ, and then people can evacuate if they need to north or south. That way even after the cyclone has hit, there will be power, supplies, medication etc.

I know this is a very bias look at it, but if there were to be 2 in NQ, it would for me be in the cities rather than the small towns. What happens when a major storm hits the capital city and 100 000 people have to drive 200ks north of south. It would be chaos and in the long term just wouldnt be worth it.

Lucky we are getting 5

It would never be big enough for everyone but at least the Pollies are starting to realise that something has to be put in place. Its a start anyway.

PS Trav
Tried to send a PM but your box is full or over limit,whatever that means.

The smaller populated areas do need a shelter as well. The groups most likely to use it will be back packers, other tourists, and people in old or suspect houses. The first two groups, the tourists, are a big part of the smaller towns like the Whitsundays and Cassowary Coast. Travelling to a couple of large centres will not work either with our current flood prone Bruce Highway.

Yeah, thats what I was thinking, Usually the heavy rains during the season cut off the roads, and travelling hours North or South could be a problem. Of course, the major cities would still get more shelters, but can't hurt to have one there somewhere, I think.

Remember i said first priority, i know everywhere needs one, but in the case of a emergency, were would one be best suit? If a yasi sized storm came?

if you guys read that list i posted, it states the Cassowary Coast will be a location. that is the Innisfail to Tully region. They would be seriously stupid not to build one there. the other unmentioned possible location was Yeppoon.
The major cities like Townsville, Cairns and Mackay already have some form of protected cyclone sheltering. Eg the Showgrounds in Townsville. While not cat 5 cyclone rated, proved to be a good spot for many during Yasi. So i think it would be better to spread all 10 down the coast through the main regions.
Weipa, Port Douglas, Cairns, Cassowary, Ingham, Townsville, Whisundays/Prossy, Mackay, Rockhampton, Yepoon.

Mission beach sure could use it the rest of the year anyway. We have nothing here, not even a pool for the kids. Anyone see the proposal for a safe Boat harbor here? http://www.missionbeachsafeboatharbour.com.au/

While my opinion may a wee bit biased, I think we are in need of one. While we have had no direct hit for a long, long time, we have no where that would be suitable. During Yasi, people used the show grounds pavilion as a refuge. The building is not sealed, it has exposed eaves, and they used a bus to stop the roller doors from blowing in. I suppose it coulees be up graded to a cat 5 rating. I'm not sure why the Hinchinbrook Shire Hall wasn't used. Good to see finally, something being done about cyclone shelters done though. I still can't believe how it took and overseas party, with no apparent connection, to donate 30mil for our government to act.

ol mate, you'd need a two storey one in Ingham - as your mayor said before Yasi, move everything downstairs for the cyclone, then move everything upstairs for the flood that follows.
I think for once, maybe, someone is helping us after our disaster, as Australia usually helps others.

Its good they are doing this, it will help alot of people like the homeless, and houses that obviously not withstand cyclones or unfixed damage. Considering the damage Yasi had caused to the coastal area, no directly related deaths had resulted.. That is either good luck or well laid plans.

I'm with WWW, what do the UAE want in return? Call me skeptical, I am grateful for what the UAE are trying to do here, but there's more to it than meets the eye. Furthermore why has it taken another country to influence our rejected members of government into some actual doing words..

Lol 28...very true. Went through that myself, and the flood that day came that fast, 10m in 6 hrs....
The show grounds, while high enough are completely isolated during floods, and shire hall, in big floods, has water through the ground floor of council offices of about 30 cm. Hinchinbrook has a large seaside population of about 2000 (out of 12000 for the shire) at localities of Lucinda, Forrest Beach and Taylors beach, all of which were evacuated during Yasi. Most were accomodated at friends and family, infact where i stayed we had 2 extras from lucinda.
The Shire hall upstairs would be ideal, it's set for functions to hold about 500 people, has amenities, kitchen ect. I wonder if anything such as a refurbishment of an existing building is on the cards, or just new buildings all together.

It's great they've done this, terrible they should have to (how much of the Premier's Appeal is sitting in government coffers???)but how in blimey did they get talking about it?
If the governments didn't support illegal immigrants that bring negativity and disease and looked after people BORN here legally we could have had them years ago.
Once again though, many thanks UAE.

very skeptical lot arent you?
consider that for once another country wanted to offer financial assistance to us, the same as we do to others in their tough times? maybe the UAE wanted to help but decided instead of cash to provide a gift that is something useful. this is a country that has alot of money and knows how to use it practically.

I know that the Showgrounds Function Room in Townsville will NOT be offered again as a refuge.
There was many problems associated with using it and no proper facilities anymore. The whole front window is glass, the roof was leaking and many brought their animals with them.
I was there when many arrived and it was nothing short of a complete fiasco.
There isnt even an Urn there for anyone to make a cup of tea.
The current Manager has expressed that if the damaged Hall has to be pulled down that they could build a shelter in its place but personally I think they should be placed in schools where they can be put to use all year.

one friend of mine came up with the idea of building townsville's new entertainment centre in the CBD as a cyclone shelter. would get used 12months of the year, and would probably hold alot more than 500 people!

What I think UAE will get out of it is branding from a building that most the time will be used for other purposes, but when needed will be a godsend. If I lived up there I would not mind using a UAE hall for things and seeing their branding while using it because it is better than having nothing. Just as long as they do it tastefully.

Just build the new Cruise Ship Terminal to Cat 5 standards (which it probably would have been anyway) and kill two birds with one stone. Townsville gets a crusie ship terminal and we get purpose built Cat 5 shelter. (As against all those Commonwealth government buildings that are already built to Cat 5 standards but are not built as dedicated shelters.)

I'm a cynic but then i expect that UAE will want first dibs on the Barrier Reef Oil Concessions once we jail all the greenies for environmental blackmail.

Indeed Mick 10, if only our governments were as practical and level-headed as UAE.
we'd be a lot better off and safer.

It doesn't matter how big you build it the joint won't be big enough for even a small percentage of the population to use it in an emergency. (2010 estimated population of 185,768) Say you build it to shelter 1000 people how do you identify those in most need for evacuation? Based on STC Yasi's predicted storm surge you will need a much bigger shelter than that to accomodate everyone who should have evacuated but didn't.

wouldnt be able to have a cruise ship terminal as a shelter. too close to the ocean obviously.
you will always find, as we did with yasi, that a majority will spend it at home. or in the case of us ct ch7, went spent it at work, solid brick building, high above storm surge threat. we weren the only ones, lawyer and tropic dist. offices upstairs had people in them too. they spend the night watching us do live crosses all night!

just to advise, the first sod of soil was turned in Proserpine today, marking the start of their new cyclone shelter.

Why not just build every school hall as a CAT 5 building with extra rooms such as a kitchen area, a room for first aid services and a room for registration??

Then in times of need they can be opened up to the public as a cyclone shelter??

DOH...thats right we're talking about practical planning something a government is just hopeless at doing !

Congratulations to Proserpine for the start of their shelter but wouldn't you think the first one would be further north where the possibility of Cyclones is higher.

Mick, Most cruise ship terminals are multi story with the lower floor just for cargo/parking passanger set down etc (think Castletown but not underground parking) so even with a large storm surge it would still be usefull as a shelter.

The other thing that say the Townsville council could do is to make it compulsory that any new sub divisions be built with a cat 5 shelter as a community centre capable of holding a percentage of the projected population. Yes it is making the developers put thier hands in their pockets but they will just pass the costs on to the first purchasers (hey the prices you pay always include development costs anyway so an extra couple of grand per hosue and land package isn't going to add that much more). Developments like North Shore provide shopping centres, parks, footpaths,landscaping etc all included in the costs of the sub division.

the waves were crashing over the top of the breakwater at berths 8, 9 & 10 after yasi, this is where the cruise ship terminal will be built. i wouldnt go there!

personally, i think all new schools should be built with a shelter. darwin schools have been doing this since the 70's, my grade 1 class at Howard Springs Primary in Darwin was underground, with small 40cm windows up the top of the walls being at ground level. and the darwin police HQ built in the 80's is one massive giant concrete cyclone shelter too. as usual qld is 30 years behind!

is it possible to make ordinary houses Cat 5 rating because if it is possible they could make it compulsory for all new homes built to have such rating.

No Subtropicalcyclo, the cost would be prohibative and no one will live in a concrete bunker for some reason. Remember a Cat 5 is a starting point - there is no upper limit. Cat 5 = winds of 250kph and above. To have a roof that will withstand that you need a solid concrete reinforced job which means living in a huge heat sink.

My house is built to the old W42 rating. Bessa block, concrete filled every second cavity from slab to ceiling with 24mm reo bar tied into the roof joists and under the slab. Short of next doors house hitting my roof I am pretty well covered up to a Cat 4.

The other thing is that a house surrounded by other houses of similar specs are mutually supporting. i.e. if you are in a house that has a house behind it and the wind is coming from that direction, then the house behind you acts as wind break. see http://www.shedsonline.com.au/WindRating.htm for more information.

Couldn't agree more Mick. The Queensland government has been behind for decades, in terms of community safety provision. NT are so much more proactive- having lived there for a number of years- at least they care more about safety provision for urban communities.

Yes- shelters need to be provided at schools. This is an obvious networked solution.

yeah Tom, i lived in the NT during the entire 80's. Obviously helped with a majority of Darwin being rebuilt, but massive area of Mackay, Tville and Cairns have had new schools, new land divisions etc and there are no shelters built and underground power in most area is the same as 40years ago. Those of us in Townsville wouldnt have gone a week without power if over the years underground power had been implemented over the years. but thats off topic.

the NT, being a Territory gets massive amounts of funding from a federal level. For a such a large area of land that has a similar population area to say Cairns or Townsville it whollops us with funding. Thereofore, since self government they have been able to freely spend the money on community projects to improve the city. Unlike us northern cities over here who fight tooth and nail to beg for scraps from the SE Corner.

I found this historic document that makes for interesting reading in relation to shelters in Queensland:

www.works.qld.gov.au/downloads/tdd/guideline_public_shelter.pdf

Building them in areas such as the Tully region before Cairns/Townsville is a no-brainer to me.

Schools in areas as CF said (Tully, Innisfail, Cardwell, Ingham etc) could be retro fitted or rebuilt to work as a cyclone shelter. Think about it for a moment. Most schools are reasonably spread out among the community, they are an easily found locations with access to main roads, they have large school assembly halls, have inbuilt IT networks already in place for communications etc.

Most state and federal government buildings, including schools, are built to a much higher rating than domestic homes and can in a pinch serve as emergency cyclone shelters. Yes they coped a hiding during Yasi but them most places did.

By building a shelter that is multi purpose is the answer.

Such as a school assembly hall with extra facilities. i.e. toilets to cater for several hundred people, catering area that doubles as a school canteen, even some of the usual gymn equipment can be utilised such as gym mats for sleeping on. Extra communications lines can be piggybacked onto the schools fibre optic network via a network switch etc.
A weight room can be converted into a first aid room as quick as you can move the equipment out of teh road etc.

Generators and rain water tank system would round out the requirements nicely.

I'm totally astounded that the Federal Govt spent billions on the B.E.R, most public schools now have multi purpose halls and not one of them in Qld were designed to perform as a cyclone shelter, then the Qld Govt has to spend more money (even though donated from the middle east) to build cyclone shelters, good old Aussie Govt at its best???

There are dozens of new multi purpose halls in the Mackay area, I just dont get it.

They just spent Millions of dollars building a "multi purpose centre" at the Tully highschool but it sat idle during Yasi because it wasn't properly cylone rated!
There was also talk of upgrading the MPC to cyclone standards so that it could be used as an evacuation centre during cyclones, but if it was anything like the "proposed" cyclone shelter for Mission beach that the council/government let slip thru it's fingers... then it will probably never happen.

as tempest said most schools across the nation have had upgrades in the past few years. those across northern regions should have had their halls built to standard. totally agree tempest. in the NT they did this 30years ago, why is it that Qld is always left behind?

Totally agree Tempest. And these halls were only completed within the last 12 months as well. Why not do it once and do it right? Apparently the question was asked why don’t they build them to a higher standard to serve as an evacuation centre, however the Federal Government basically told them to shut up and mind their own business.