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Australia Faces Worst Cyclone Season in Yrs - Study |
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| UK: November 12, 2007 | ||
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LONDON - Australia should brace itself for the worst tropical cyclone season since 1998/1999, a leading catastrophe forecaster warned on Friday.
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Either five or six tropical storms will hit Australia this season, which lasts from Nov. 1 to April 30 2008, according to a prediction by UK-based Tropical Storm Risk (TSR). The Australia region, which includes nearby islands in the southwest Pacific, is likely to see 13 tropical storms, seven of which will develop into severe tropical cyclones, predicted TSR. TSR is a consortium of weather experts at University College London and the UK's Meteorological Office, backed by insurer Royal & Sun Alliance, reinsurance broker Benfield Group and claims adjuster Crawford & Company. The reason for the higher cyclone activity is La Nina conditions in the tropical Pacific Ocean, pushing sea surface temperatures there to their coldest since 1999, which helps create above-normal tropical storm activity, said TSR. This season will not be as bad as 1998/1999, said TSR, when the region saw 16 tropical storms, 10 of which developed into severe tropical cyclones. Tropical storms can wreak havoc. Tropical Cyclone Larry, which battered northern Queensland in March 2006, left 7,000 homeless and 50,000 homes without power, said TSR, which has, it said, correctly predicted severe tropical cyclone activity for the past seasons. (Reporting by Simon Challis; Editing by David Holmes)
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REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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