You may have heard that Townsville is currently under a cyclone warning. Cyclone can be one of those words that raises lots of images in our minds, so we wanted to touch base with you and offer some assurance!

We have operated YWAM in this community for 25 years, and do have quite a breadth of experience in these sorts of situations as weather patterns such as this are not unusual for the region. In fact, we work in consultation with our local Council to assist the broader community in the event of a natural disaster in the Townsville area.

The good news is, as cyclones go, this is expected to cross land as Category 1 (the lowest level of cyclone) and it is anticipated that it will not be a direct hit to Townsville.  All this combined means we are expecting some wind and rain in our area but not a lot more.

That said, we do take these things very seriously and are following all of the advice and protocol from the Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland Disaster Management Services, and the Queensland State Emergency Services, and have taken all advised precautions. You may have also heard that we will be evacuating our ship as a precaution due to anticipated high tides coinciding with storm waters; all those living onboard will be well taken care of in alternate accommodation.

We do have a number of teams in Papua New Guinea and Darwin as well and are pleased to advise that there are no threatening weather patterns currently in those areas and all teams are safe and doing well.

If you’re interested to track the storm, www.bom.gov.au is a great resource with a map updated every few hours. As you would see there, as of this update, its expected that any threat will have passed by tomorrow morning, Australia time.

We always appreciate your prayers and support, and especially at times like this when we have extra considerations and precautions to walk through!