Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




SHAKE AND BLOW
Australia's iron ore centre braces for Cyclone Rusty
by Staff Writers
Sydney (AFP) Feb 25, 2013


Madagascar death toll rises to 18 after cyclone and rain
Antananarivo (AFP) Feb 25, 2013 - The death toll of tropical cyclone Haruna and heavy rains that battered Madagascar has risen to 18, the national disaster management agency said on Monday.

Figures showed that a further 16 people were missing and 81 had been injured on the Indian Ocean island.

The cyclone struck on Friday morning in the southwest region, with heavy rains and strong gusts of wind reaching speeds of 200 kmh (125 mph) lashing the island.

The category 2 cyclone destroyed nearly a thousand houses, leaving almost 10,000 people homeless, and flooded more than 6,000 hectares of crops.

Australia's largest iron ore ports were shut down on Monday ahead of tropical cyclone Rusty which is building off the resource-rich west coast.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued a cyclone warning stretching from Mardie, 1,200 kilometres (745 miles) north of the state capital Perth, to Cape Leveque in Western Australia's far north.

It said the cyclone, which is a category 2 on the five-level scale, was likely to intensify as it slowly approaches land.

"There is a high risk that Rusty will cross the coast as a severe tropical cyclone," it said in a statement.

"However, the slow motion of the cyclone means that the crossing time and location is uncertain."

By Monday afternoon Rusty was estimated to be about 295 kilometres (183 miles) north of Port Hedland and almost stationary.

Port Hedland, a major iron ore export hub for BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals, closed early Monday.

"All port terminals, infrastructure and services are secure and fully prepared for the arrival of 'Rusty' in line with existing port cyclone plans," the port authority said in a statement.

"Conditions are forecast to steadily deteriorate over the next 36-48 hours with increasing winds to 70-plus knots by late Tuesday and 100 knots when the system crosses the coast on Wednesday afternoon."

Major iron ore exporter Rio Tinto said ship loading at Cape Lambert had finished late Sunday while Dampier was due to follow suit late Monday.

The weather bureau warned that Rusty, a large, slow-moving tropical cyclone, is likely to result in higher than usual rainfall in the Pilbara and western Kimberley and could trigger flooding.

"Rusty's intensity, size and slow movement is also likely to lead to a very dangerous storm tide as the cyclone centre nears the coast," it said.

"Tides are likely to rise significantly above the normal high tide mark with damaging waves and very dangerous coastal inundation."

Cyclones are a common feature of Australia's warmer months on its northeast and northwest coasts.

-- Dow Jones Newswires contributed to this report --

.


Related Links
Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters
When the Earth Quakes
A world of storm and tempest






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








SHAKE AND BLOW
10 dead as Cyclone Haruna lashes Madagascar
Antananarivo (AFP) Feb 23, 2013
Tropical cyclone Haruna and rains that lashed the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar killed 10 people and affected nearly 3,000 this week, the disaster management agency said Saturday. The cyclone struck on Friday morning in the southwest region and left the island 24 hours later, having claimed six lives and hurt 17, it said. Four other people were killed in torrential rain earlier in the we ... read more


SHAKE AND BLOW
Water On The Moon: It's Been There All Along

Building a lunar base with 3D printing

US, Europe team up for moon fly-by

Russia to Launch Lunar Mission in 2015

SHAKE AND BLOW
NASA Rover Confirms First Drilled Mars Rock Sample

India plans mission to Mars in 2013

Rover finds gray rock beneath Red Planet's surface

Bleach could hamper Mars life search

SHAKE AND BLOW
Supersonic skydiver's records confirmed

Kennedy Engineers Designing Plant Habitat For ISS

NASA plant study headed to space station

NASA Spinoff 2012 Features New Space Tech Bettering Your Life Today

SHAKE AND BLOW
Welcome Aboard Shenzhou 10

Reshuffle for Tiangong

China to launch 20 spacecrafts in 2013

Mr Xi in Space

SHAKE AND BLOW
NASA briefly loses contact with space station

Temporary Comm Loss Interrupts Crew's Day

Low-Gravity Flights Will Aid ISS Fluids and Combustion Experiments

Progress docks with ISS

SHAKE AND BLOW
Countdown begins for Indo-French satellite launch

NASA Seeks University Participants for Summer Rocket Workshop

Another Sea Launch Failure

ILS Concludes Yamal 402 Proton Launch Investigation

SHAKE AND BLOW
NASA's Kepler Mission Discovers Tiny Planet System

Kepler helps astronomers find tiny exo planet

Searching for a Pale Blue SPHERE in the Universe

Earth-like planets are right next door

SHAKE AND BLOW
A Semiconductor 'Nano-Shish-Kebabs' With 3-D Potential

That's the way the droplets adhere

Acoustic-assisted magnetic information storage

DARPA Seeks to Defuse the Threat of Ionizing Radiation




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement