MEENA

History

Severe Tropical Cyclone Meena was an unusually late-season system that developed in the northern Coral Sea in May 1989. It originated from a low embedded in a late-season monsoon trough roughly 300 km east of Cape York Peninsula, and was named by the Bureau of Meteorology's Brisbane Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre on 4 May.

Tracking steadily westward over very warm sea surface temperatures and beneath a low vertical wind shear environment, Meena organised rapidly. By 5 May it had reached Category 3 severe tropical cyclone status on the Australian scale, which represented its peak intensity: an estimated minimum central pressure of about 965 hPa, 10-minute sustained winds near 140 km/h (75 knots) and gusts in excess of 185 km/h. At around this strength the cyclone made its first landfall on the east coast of Cape York Peninsula near Lockhart River.

Interaction with the terrain of the peninsula weakened Meena below severe status as it moved overland on 6 May, but the system survived the crossing and re-emerged over the warm waters of the Gulf of Carpentaria, where it re-intensified to Category 2 while heading west-southwest towards the Northern Territory. Its final landfall came on 8 May along the southern shore of the Gulf, close to the Northern Territory–Queensland border. Once inland the cyclone decayed quickly, degenerating into a rain depression before dissipating over the Roper–McArthur district on 9 May.

Impacts were relatively modest. Communities across northern Cape York Peninsula, including Lockhart River and Weipa, experienced heavy rainfall and gale-force winds, with flooding cutting inland roads and station tracks; structural damage was mostly confined to roofing, outbuildings and vegetation. In the Gulf region, squally winds and heavy monsoonal rain affected the Sir Edward Pellew Group and coastal cattle properties near Borroloola, and substantial river rises occurred in the McArthur and Roper catchments. No deaths or direct casualties were reported. Meena closed out a slightly above-average 1988–89 Australian region season that had already produced Severe Tropical Cyclones Aivu and Orson.

Sources: Bureau of Meteorology report Wikipedia