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On March 20, 2017, Debbie formed at the eastern end of an active monsoon trough,
through the Indian ocean and extending up to the Coral Sea. This then caused a
tropical low to form southeast of Papua New Guinea. Across the next two days, the
thunderstorms circulated around a centre as sea pressure levels began to drop. This
resulted in a tropical depression starting to drift south, making a long S shaped
track. On March 25, a subtropical ridge (a zone of stable high pressure) caused
Debbie to travel South West, where it eventually intensified further and was named
Debbie. Once conditions were optimal for Debbie, the tropical cyclone intensified
to a catergory 2, where it rapidly intensified to a catergory 4 within a 12 hour
period.
A monsoon trough is a region of low air pressure, combined with many thunderstorms.
This created a basis and along with other contributing factors, formed Cyclone
Debbie. For a cyclone to form, the ocean water has to be at least 26.5 degrees.
This heat combined with the tropical lows allowed for warm, moist air to rise. In
this case, Due to the Earth spinning on its axis, the Coriolis Effect took place
as the cluster of storms begin to spin, drawing in more air and causing an eye to
form which became a cyclone when it reached wind speeds of 64km/h.
Chart 1 shows Debbie drifting South towards the coral sea before veering south west
onto land near Airle beach on QLD’s Whitsunday coast. The feared cyclone then
rapidly turned Southeast and produced major flooding throughout North East NSW,
central and South East QLD. This natural phenomenon occurred due to the Eath’s
rotation resulting in the Coriolis Effect, allowing the cyclone to rotate clockwise
and South of the equator. Additionally, the landmasses and the atmospheric
conditions also affected the trajectory of the cyclone.
Chart 2 displays the air pressure of Cyclone Debbie and the surrounding areas when
Debbie hit land. The area near Airle Beach, where Tropical Cylone Debbie hit
average around 1000 hectopascals, which resulted in the air having a low pressure.
Due to the Cyclone reaching land, it was not able to draw as much heat energy from
the ocean, resulting in less air circulation and a higher hectopascal reading
compared to when it was deemed at cat 4 cyclone. A cold front had also formed which
usually follows warm fronts to create condensation and significantly more
precipitation.
Chart 3 shows the approximate ocean temperature when Debbie first formed and the
wind speed when Debbie was deemed a Cat 4 cyclone. The ocean temperatures rose to
29.9 degrees celsius, when Debbie first formed, allowing Debbie to intensify due to
the heat energy produced from the ocean. The heat energy causes low air pressure,
creating moist air to rise and produce more precipitation. This increases the
convective of the cyclone, results in high wind speeds and air circulation around
the eye of Cyclone Debbie. The map also shows that Cyclone Debbie’s wind speed was
98km/h at its peak, a product of the warm ocean temperates and resulting in
devastating impacts.
The impacts and the aftermath of Cyclone Debbie was devastating. Once Debbie
reached land as a Catergory 4 cyclone, the Whitsunday’s resort islands including
Hamilton and Daydream islands were severely impacted. The towns of Airle Beach and
Prosperine, as well as Bowen and Collinsville were significantly affected. Many
people were left without electricity and food, 30 000 people were displaced and
there were a total of 14 direct fatalities. $1.5 billion worth of property damage,
$1 million in crops and 3350 properties were damaged, 944 inhabitable. Riverine
flooding also occurred throughout several rivers including Tweed, Fitzroy and Logan
rivers. Erosion and surge damage was observed around Airle beach and 50-100% of
coral was lost near the Whitsunday islands. Furthermore, the devastating impacts
left 6 Sunwater and 15Seqwater dams having excess water over their spillway.