Merciful Olga

Well, this is no good for a blogger. I expect Cyclones to bring Chaos. Horizontal palm trees, at the least. There is still opportunities for destruction, but an Apocalypse appears unlikely:

UPDATE: FAR north Queensland residents had a last-minute reprieve from destructive winds as Tropical Cyclone Olga dropped in intensity shortly before crossing the coast.

Olga crossed the coast north of Port Douglas about 1pm today as a category one cyclone, far weaker than the category two system, with winds of up to 140km/h, that had been expected.

"We haven't had strong winds over land, however there have still been some fairly strong winds further out to sea,'' forecaster Tony Auden from the Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre in Brisbane said.

There was little evidence of cyclonic activity in Port Douglas as Olga passed over.

Shops and restaurants remained open, while the band played on at the local Court House Hotel.

Authorities said the cyclone caused little damage and congratulated north Queensland residents for their preparations for the bad weather.

"After the cyclone crossed the coastline there was little to no requests for assistance to the State Emergency Service (SES) however this could possibly change with heavy rainfall expected to continue in the region over the coming hours,'' Emergency Management Queensland (EMQ) regional director Wayne Coutts said in a statement.
...The Bureau of Meteorology has warned residents between Cooktown and Mackay to expect heavy rainfall as Olga and ex-cyclone Neville continue to lash the north Queensland coast overnight.

Premier Anna Bligh said rainfalls of up to 300mm in some regions were predicted and localised flooding could be expected.