With a third consecutive La Niña summer underway, MSQ has encouraged boaties to take action now in preparation for potential severe weather events over the coming months.
La Niña events typically increase the chance of above average rainfall for northern and eastern Australia during spring and summer.
While it’s a core MSQ responsibility to prepare as best we can for maritime mishaps, there are also things all boat owners can do for themselves:
- Keep a weather eye on the local forecast (the marine weather page for Queensland on the Bureau of Meteorology’s website is a good place to start) and take steps to prepare for severe weather. This should include ensuring your vessel is secure on its mooring or anchor, in its marine berth or on its trailer at home.
- Secure loose objects and, if your vessel is moored or anchored, identify a suitable location if you need to move to a safer position in the event of cyclone or floods. Scout out locations early, because preparation is key to safely coming out the other side of storms, cyclones and other challenging weather events.
- Ensure your vessel and its berthing or mooring arrangements are adequately prepared to ride out ‘king tides’, which will be at their highest on 23 January for the South East Queensland coast and on 20 February on the Northern Queensland coast and Torres Strait.
- If your vessel is tied to a mooring, make sure your mooring tackle is well maintained and you have sufficient “give” in your mooring chain. The last thing you want is for your vessel to break free and threaten the safety of others.
- Check out MSQ’s website, which has further tips for how to prepare your vessel for severe weather.
On the topic of responding to meteorological challenges, those interested in learning from past events can read both the Inspector General of Emergency Management and Queensland Reconstruction Authority reports on the February 2022 flood event.
For more information visit www.msq.qld.gov.au
