Innisfail took a big one on the chin last night. I was living there in '86 for Winifred, which was a "paltry" cat3, but still caused a right mess. Larry last-night was a cat5, which I guess authorises the comparisons to Tracy, though Tracy was much smaller and more powerful, and was hitting a town not adequately prepared, I would hesitate to suggest. Building regulations have come a long way since, and with good cause.
Here's what I'm thinking though: the preparedness & response to this will be underappreciated. This is as big a cyclone as has been seen in Australia for a long time, and yet the injury/death toll is, to date, unbelievably small. It will probably go up with the flooding and other aftermath, but to get this far with that sort of result is, under the circumstances, bloody amazing. The economic costs will run to hundreds of millions, no doubt, but that sounds a pretty good deal to me.
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