Townsville residents prepare ahead of category 2 cyclone
There are only a few hours until cyclone Kirrily closes in on Townsville. Residents of the north Queensland city are being told to seek shelter.
Transcript
00:00 Townsville City Council has been issuing emergency alerts for residents to seek shelter and stay
00:08 off the roads from 2 o'clock this afternoon.
00:11 That's when we're expecting to see wind gusts reach up to 80 kilometres an hour.
00:15 In the meantime in Townsville the rains and winds have certainly been picking up and residents
00:21 here are taking their last chance to come down here, fill up sandbags and grab the last
00:26 supplies that they need before chemists and supermarkets will close their doors later
00:31 today.
00:32 We run a business so we've been helping other businesses where we are as well just getting
00:35 our sandbags ready and everything like that in low-lying areas and just pretty much just
00:40 getting, just making sure that we're all prepared.
00:43 Done all our prep, lawns are mowed, trees are trimmed, rubbish is away, everything tied
00:47 down.
00:48 You don't know what to expect, you just have to prepare for the worst you know and see
00:51 how it goes.
00:52 The tropical cyclone Kirralee is expected to cross the coast later tonight as a Category
00:57 2 system.
00:58 Townsville Council had been warning more than 600 homes could be rendered uninhabitable
01:04 when that system does cross the coast but that number has now been revised and dropped
01:08 to 400.
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