Media Operations during Cyclone Larry, 2006

The third vignette, like the second, focuses on the tourism environment of Cairns when it bore the brunt of Cyclone Larry in March 2006. The researcher provides an account of the evolution of the story as he experienced it as a resident of Cairns at that time. This region of Far North Queensland is a cyclone-prone tourism destination, located in the north-eastern Australian tropics. The cyclone season starts in November-December each year and there are institutional warnings to residents about securing roofs and guttering and not leaving debris around public and private buildings that can be swept up by storm winds to become lethal projectiles. There is no set ―build-up‖ period for a cyclone as they can form slowly and peter out or take shape quickly and become devastating. The researcher was dependant on media coverage for information and the following participant observer account depicts how news is received by the public during a crisis in which a population is facing a common threat. In contrast to the four later case

112 studies in which the extent and ferocity of the disaster incidents were unexpected, deadly and had paradigm-changing repercussions, this cyclone was tracked and measured before it hit and its power and ability to inflict destruction was anticipated. The media‘s agenda leading into its arrival was to warn residents and in the immediate 24-hours after it hit was to switch into a record-of-destruction role and eventually to deal with its effects on the economy and industry, such as tourism. As seen in later chapters, the media strived to continue publishing despite barriers posed by the cyclone‘s disruption, such as the cessation of essential services.

Cyclone Larry had formed at sea on March 14 and was designated as a cyclone by 4am on March 18. The Cairns Post‟s Page 2 lead on March 18 was headlined ―Larry set to blow – Region prepares for possible cyclone‖ (The Cairns Post, 2006a, p. 2) and quoted a weather forecaster saying it was too early to judge how intense the cyclone would be or how wide, both crucial pieces of information for disaster managers. Four computer-models used by the weather bureau showed a slow-moving low pressure system that was expected to cross the Far Northern coastline on Monday, although its landfall was undetermined.

―It‘s a long way out now but once that system develops, we expect it to start moving west at about 30kmh so it will cover quite a large distance very quickly,‖ the weather forecaster said. ―In a 40-50 hour period, that‘s 1500km, so in just over two days it could be sitting on our

113 doorstep,‖ (Ibid.). He urged residents to stay tuned for weather updates over the weekend and make their final cyclone preparations. Ironically, the weather bureau‘s official forecast in that same edition of the paper (Ibid., p. 175) gave no warnings and for Sunday said there would be developing showers and freshening southeast winds.

The situation changed rapidly during Saturday and a single-column map on Page 2 of the next day‘s The Sunday Mail (2006, p. 2) featured a left-direction arrow coming out of a ―bullseye‖ headed straight for the coastline between Cairns and Townsville. Under the heading ―Cyclone Larry set to storm in‖, the story reported North Queenslanders as being warned to ―prepare for the worst‖ as the cyclone moved swiftly towards the coast.

―Larry‖ had advanced to about 1,000km off the coast of Cairns and was moving at 25kph, likely to be upgraded to Category 3 intensity/severity by Sunday morning and a cyclone warning had been issued overnight for an extensive strip of coast north from Mackay to Cape Tribulation.

A weather forecaster said ―Larry‖ would ―bring very strong winds and heavy rain…and is likely to have an impact inland as it continues to move quickly west across to the Northern Territory‖ (Ibid.). The Department of Emergency Services urged north Queenslanders to prepare for the deluge and advised residents to have emergency kits at hand and to: ―Regularly listen to the radio for weather updates, clear

114 your properties of rubbish, clean out gutters, prepare an emergency kit with emergency phone numbers, medication, tinned food, portable radio, spare batteries and first aid kit‖ (Ibid.).

Residents also were urged to shelter vehicles, secure doors and windows, disconnect electrical items and secure pets in solid sections of buildings before the cyclone hits. The weather bureau‘s official forecast in that day‘s paper (Ibid, p. 79) listed a storm warning from Cooktown to Mackay, strong wind warnings between Cape Tribulation and Cooktown and Mackay to Double Island Point. Cyclone warnings were listed for the north tropical coast and Tablelands and the Herbert and Lower Burdekin.

By the time Cyclone Larry hit the mainland early on the morning of Monday, March 20, the only immediate media available was the morning‘s edition of The Cairns Post, and radio for those with portable receivers. All power had been cut and television signal transmission towers were knocked out of commission by the severity of the storm.

The Cairns Post front page was designed and published on Sunday night before the cyclone hit and could not be delivered the next morning to most areas and homes by its normal pre-6am time which was in the midst of the cyclone fury. At 10pm that Sunday night, it had become a Category 4 cyclone and was destined not to deviate from its path until well after hitting landfall.

115 Figure 13: The front page of the local newspaper the day of the cyclone hitting (left) on March 20 and of the special picture supplement the day after

(right) (The Cairns Post, 2006a; The Cairns Post, 2006c).

Nevertheless the newspaper‘s splash headline ―EVACUATE – Hundreds told to leave their homes‖ (The Cairns Post, 2006b, p. 1) superimposed over an official weather bureau satellite image of the storm clouds with the eye of the cyclone closing in on the Cairns coastline, foretold a dramatic enough notion of what might be in store for the region on the day (Figure 13). The first four pages inside the paper reported towns ―battening down‖ (Ibid., p.2-3), of the Queensland Premier declaring the area a disaster zone, district and supreme court sittings cancelled, schools and university closed (Ibid., p. 3), of tourist resorts and islands evacuated (Ibid., p. 4), air travel in turmoil (Ibid., p. 2), petrol stations and supermarket aisles jammed with

―frenzied‖ customers queuing for fuel and essential items (Ibid., p. 5)

116 and urban residents fleeing to outlying communities for ―safer‖ harbour (Ibid., p. 4). All this activity took place before the storm hit.

Comparative information about the intensity of ―Larry‖ indicated the possible consequences. It was described as twice as large as Cyclone Tracy which destroyed the city of Darwin, but smaller than America‘s destructive Hurricane Katrina. Larry had a 100km stretch of destructive winds reaching up to 280kmh with a 300-400km wide front of gale force winds outside that, reaching up to 75kmh. Larry was labelled as a

―high Category 4, almost a 5‖ while Tracy was a Category 5, but its destructive winds covered a lesser area of 50km. Hurricane Katrina was about 300-400km across. And the arrival of Larry coincided almost 20 years to the month after Category 3 Cyclone Winifred bore down on the nearby southern townships of Innisfail and Tully, and almost exactly 88 years after the worst, but unnamed, cyclone flattened Innisfail and caused a number of deaths.

As the region‘s residents prepared for bed that Sunday night they expected to wake to a Category 4 storm in the morning. As it neared the coastline, fierce winds of up to 300kmh swirled along a 100km front and, huddled around radios and unable to sleep, residents taped windows and prepared for the worst as the eerie calm settled before the storm. The wind picked up around 4am and, with the power failing and the sun not yet risen, the pitch black of many houses was invaded by

117 the intensifying wind gusts which rattled iron rooves and tore gutters from their ties. Cairns radio stations stayed on air throughout the storm providing instant coverage of the conditions, proving to be essential services in their own right in providing information once power and television coverage had failed.

Cyclone Larry blew its way into the city of Cairns and surrounding region about 5am on March 20, reaching a crescendo of destruction about 8.30am and disappearing westwards inland by about 9.30am.

Radio announcers stayed on air throughout the night in the lead up and during the cyclone hitting, continuing through the morning to report on the post-event destruction. While the storm had gone, the winds were still up, the rain pelted down and powerlines swayed between their posts. Nevertheless, thrill-seeking residents roamed the city streets in cars and tempted bridges flooded by the swelling river system.

Radio and fixed-line phones were the sole media of communication and there was no shortage of reports phoned into programs from listeners all around the region. The Mayor of Cairns and Premier of Queensland were among those interviewed by Cairns radio announcers, as well as emergency services personnel and rescue organisation leaders. Channel 7‟s Sunrise breakfast program seized on the magnitude of the story and carried dramatic coverage filled with ―emotion-packed eyewitness accounts phoned in by terrified storm victims huddled in their shelters

118 in hard-hit Innisfail‖ (Stone, 2007, p. 283). The program was extended into the mid-morning past its normal finish and kept flashing continuous updates. It included live crosses to its weather reporter who had been flown into Townsville in anticipation of the cyclone‘s arrival.

Channel 9 was unable to immediately cover the devastation as its facility for live broadcasting from the region had been closed and a satellite dish that could have been flown in to transmit reports had been diverted to Sydney to cover for an unrelated technical glitch.

With many thousands of homes in the region deprived of power, TV coverage of the cyclone was irrelevant whether it went to air or not. But local newspapers and radio provided the news coverage expected by the local population. ―What a mess‖ was The Cairns Post‟s Page 1 headline on Tuesday, March 21 (The Cairns Post, 2006c). Larry left more than 1,000 buildings damaged and destroyed about $300 million worth of sugar cane and banana crops as it crossed the coast between Innisfail and Mission Beach and then turned back up the range to the southern Atherton Tablelands. Power supplies were cut to 121,500 customers as Larry‘s 300kmh winds blew through the affected areas.

Emergency Services workers were building a tent city for displaced residents at Innisfail airport as the Federal Government mobilised military aircraft and Black Hawk helicopters to deploy medical aid, soldiers and military equipment to help in the massive clean-up. Efforts

119 to provide aid to affected residents were hampered because arterial roads north and south of Innisfail were blocked by debris. As the damage assessment process got underway, it was clear that from as far south as Kurrimine Beach, west up the range across the Atherton Tablelands and north to Cairns, Larry had cut a swathe through townships, farms and rainforest. Homes and businesses were destroyed, whole forests were stripped of foliage and hundreds of hectares of bushland were flattened. Nearly every cane paddock and banana crop was destroyed, and lychee and avocado crops fared just as poorly.

Sugar mills remained twisted reminders of the storm‘s fury.

At Cairns airport, light planes were flipped over like pancakes (Figure 14) while stately and historic trees at Flecker Botanic Gardens and the Esplanade toppled in sodden soil. The Cairns International Airport was back in action about five hours after Larry crossed the coast, starting to reduce the backlog of hundreds of passengers from 40 delayed international and domestic services.

120 Figure 14: Light planes were flipped by ferocious winds

(Ergon Energy, 2006)

The Innisfail Advocate and The (Atherton) Tablelander did not miss an edition, despite being in towns most devastated by Cyclone Larry (PANPA Bulletin, 2006). With power lines cut, there was no radio, TV or internet to outlying communities and the only communication available was from the old traditional media of newspapers, which still managed to hit the streets on their usual publishing day, Tuesday, following the storm. The results of Larry were graphically portrayed in a 32-page picture supplement headlined ―Oh, My God‖ in the March 21 edition of The Cairns Post (2006c). The magnitude of the destruction put Larry on newspaper front pages and at the front of TV news bulletins around the nation and overseas (Figure 15). ―Cyclone like A-bomb‖ reported the Northern Territory News (NT News, 2006), while the BBC (2006), CNN (2006a) and the Taipei Times (2006) were among overseas news services that covered the event.

121 Figure 15: International coverage of the Cairns cyclone extended to this

front-page treatment in Syracuse, New York (The Post-Standard, 2006).

Perhaps it wasn‘t as bad as an ―a-bomb‖, but it was a local disaster of epic proportions and a flat-earth landscape to the horizon was evident in many areas for all to see. One in three buildings were destroyed in townships outside and surrounding Cairns (Figure 16). Power, sewerage and water supplies were cut off or compromised. House after house in the township of Innisfail had been ―smashed by the wrecking ball of the wind‖, The Cairns Post (2006c, p.24) reported, and stairs led to nowhere in houses whose twisted corrugated iron roofing shared the front lawn with fallen trees, splintered furniture and strewn personal belongings.

122 Figure 16: A school building: roof removed, contents destroyed

(Ergon Energy, 2006).

Cane paddocks had been flattened and entire banana plantations sheared off at waist height while in the hills the trees of the rainforest had been stripped of foliage and branches and stood like sticks in stark black earth clumps. A raft of disaster relief appeals started dominating the news pages and TV bulletins two days after Cyclone Larry hit and to reaffirm the destruction and hardship caused, pages of survivor stories and scores of devastation and clean-up photos dominated the newspapers. Schools started to re-open, power and telecommunication links were reconnected and contractors and suppliers were preparing for the massive reconstruction needed to restore homes and infrastructure.

123 Primary producers started counting the cost of the devastation as it became apparent that 4000 banana plantation workers could lose their jobs, growers faced eight months without income until the next crop and consumers around the country counted the cost of bananas at $6 a kg, double the pre-Larry retail price as a result of 80 per cent of the nation‘s crop being wiped out.

The first indication of the impact on tourism came the first weekend after Larry when south of Cairns, a Mission Beach tourism operator said the cost to the localised industry could be as high as $45 million, measured in weeks to months of lost business and repairs to infrastructure. The tourism industry weighed in on March 22 (ABC, 2006) by urging domestic and international visitors not to cancel trips to the Far North, saying the last thing the region needed was further economic damage caused by visitor cancellations in the wake of Cyclone Larry. Daniel Gschwind, from the Queensland Tourism Industry Council, said a crisis management plan had been activated to assess damage to tourism operators in the region. "North Queensland is a very big place and the areas north of Innisfail - Cairns, Port Douglas the northern beaches and indeed south of the impact area towards Townsville and the Whitsundays - they're basically open for business,‖

he said (Ibid.).

124 The ABC noted that tourism marketing plans for the region had been put on hold as images of devastation continued to be published with The Weekend Australian featuring a broadsheet full page on April 1 carrying graphic photos of Cyclone Larry‘s devastation above a joint message from the Prime Minister John Howard and Premier Peter Beattie about why Far North Queensland needed the nation‘s financial help (2006, p. 11).

Unrelated to media coverage, it is notable that the first tourism recovery initiative was instigated on April 6 when the national tourism industry started to encourage tourists back to the Cyclone Larry-devastated region, almost three weeks after the tragedy. Federal Tourism Minister Fran Bailey (The Cairns Post, 2006d. p.10) announced that North Queensland was ready and open for business as she launched a 12-day, 2079km tourist drive aimed primarily at overseas visitors. The weight of community heartbreak, devastation and recovery stories had dominated the media so much that the all-important tourism sector and dominant industry, worth more than $2 billion a year to the local economy, had received scant coverage other than that about the brief closure of airports. The Regional Tourism Organisation [RTO] leader, Rob Giason, said the best support tourists could give the battered region (Figure 17) was to holiday in North Queensland (Ibid.).

125 Figure 17: An image as a tropical haven was destroyed, with iconic palm

trees displaying the visible damage (Splash, 2006).

Visitor demand had declined since the cyclone, with lower than usual bookings for the June school holiday period. Tourism industry operators reported this was caused by the perception that there was nothing to do in the region owing to the closure of attractions such as Dunk Island and other National Parks. The economic impact on the tourism sector was expected to extend over some time. This was to be exacerbated by the seasons required for the natural environment to recover, and for the repair of accommodation infrastructure, as well as the ability to market the region to overcome public perception that it could not host visitors. The damage to the natural environment and the ongoing repair of infrastructure would serve as continuing visual reminders of the predicament the tourism industry was in.

126 In November, Prideaux et al. (2006) released a two-field study of the impacts of Cyclone Larry on tourism in the affected region, surveying on-site visitor perceptions of the cyclone‘s impact and off-site perceptions in major tourism source markets. Of the on-site visitors, a majority were satisfied with their holiday, a majority said the cyclone had little or no impact on their satisfaction, 90 per cent said they would recommend the region and 71 per cent said they would revisit if there were no rainforests in the region. Of the source market respondents, 99 per cent said they would still consider the region for a holiday after the cyclone and 67 percent had been previous visitors.

The study showed (p. 54) that the media was the key informant of the impacts of the cyclone, with TV, radio and newspapers being the key sources, however it also showed that friend/relatives in North Queensland also played a key role in informing mainly domestic visitors. The majority of off-site visitors heard about Cyclone Larry through the same forms of media, however the advice of friends/relatives had little bearing on decisions to travel to the region.

The survey revealed that the majority of potential visitors were not aware of the ―open for business‖ promotional campaign.

A member of the Cyclone Larry Taskforce, Sandy Hollway, told an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation [APEC] Tourism Forum about the

A member of the Cyclone Larry Taskforce, Sandy Hollway, told an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation [APEC] Tourism Forum about the