 Okay, folks. We're right. We're rolling. Okay The current tracking of Cyclone Yasi has the Cyclone set to land slightly closer to Cairns than we anticipated this morning The Cyclone is continuing to intensify and we continue to expect to see it around the 1 a.m. Mark on Thursday morning after a quite a bit of work between the view by the Bureau of Meteorology and Storm surge experts this afternoon We have been able to see a slight revising down of the likely level of the storm surge and councils have been able to do more precise Mapping of those areas where they will need mandatory evacuations councils from Cook through to Hinch and Brook have now all Implemented mandatory evacuation directions and the people who are outdoor knocking talking to people in those areas about relocation Will in the high-risk areas on the revised storm surge figures Be issuing directives for people to relocate In the first instance people will be required to make arrangements to relocate With friends family or workmates We do understand that there will be some people in some of these areas who are unable to source Accommodation with a friend or family member including some people who may be visitors or tourists to the region Cairns Of course is a very big tourism destination Arrangements are being put in place to provide Accommodation emergency accommodation for those people who are unable to access other forms of friends or family to relocate with people who are unable to find other Accommodation should register with the following phone line to alert police and authorities to their need for accommodation one three hundred nine nine three one nine one That's one three hundred nine nine three one nine one Facilities will be put in place and activated either overnight in some cases or early tomorrow morning In relation to the evacuation of the Cairns base hospital and the Cairns private hospital 11 planes have now been sourced to undertake this exercise two of those are Australian Defence Force planes the others include Royal Flying Doctor Service facilities and government air wing The first plane will arrive in Cairns at around 7 p.m. This evening And we will expect to see then a steady round of flights landing and taking patients and bringing them to Brisbane So this is a large exercise that will be conducted throughout the evening and into the early hours of tomorrow morning Can I say that of course we understand that not only will patients be anxious about this but their friends and family and loved ones This will be quite a nervous time Can I reassure them that these evacuations will be done by experienced people who? regularly Evacuate people in extreme medical circumstances the Royal Flying Doctor Service for example is often Evacuating for medical assistance some of the most some of the sickest and most dangerously ill patients in Queensland and do so safely almost every day of the week The hospitals that these patients are going to are major Brisbane hospitals Where arrangements are being made for their particular needs so can I just say to people of course? We understand that this will cause some anxiety It is only being done to make sure that very ill very vulnerable patients are in the safest place possible Well as I said the first plane was due to arrive in Cairns Around 7 p.m. You could expect with patients who are ill Some time will be taken to load them on and then about a two hour flight So I would expect that we'd start to see the first planes land around at 10 p.m. Tonight I'll invite the deputy commissioner makes some specific comments I should just add that we have in addition now evacuated 216 people from nursing homes in the region Thank You premier Can I firstly say how grateful I am to the mayors of all of the areas from? the Cookshire down to Hinchinbrook for having a consistent view On the safety of the communities that they serve This is a very very important decision in committing to mandatory Evacuations, I hope that the communities in those areas in the high-risk storm tide areas Will now see the potential danger that they're in and take heed of that and in fact self-evacuate way before They're ever asked to do so obviously there's a big job in in going to all of these areas and talking to the residents giving them information and Helping them to make decisions in relation to the mandatory nature now That has been committed to by all of those mayors in terms of cans Specifically there is very very good data available to us and in fact only about half an hour ago I was looking at the electronic maps of cans which show inundation up to the two-meter mark and With the revised figures from bomb. I understand that that will be in the vicinity of The number of houses or the areas that will be inundated now. I can't give you specific see Street names, but certainly I have seen the map and it is still quite extensive Metropolitan cans has got a significant amount of inundation at the two-meter mark Above HAT, which is that highest actual astronomical time Well, certainly all of that CBD behind the CBD area and to the south of the CBD To the to the inlet is certainly inundated at that level But I need to stress we need to wait until we get the final new analysis by bomb through We've had verbal advice in relation to their revised figures And whilst it is it is good news in one way it is less than what we had originally been told Only a day ago because of the changing circumstances It is still dangerous in terms of the amount of inundation in that area Some of the the shires have very very specific mapping capability and statistics on this For cans in just in that CBD and northern areas I think the figures are in the 9000 people range But that's a two-meter HAT and as I said, I don't want to be too specific Because with the new figures from bomb obviously that may may differ to a degree But certainly the cans LDMG is banking on You know, significant thousands of people needing to be evacuated out of those areas Sorry the alternative medical provision will be in cans because of the Temporary closure of the hospital and the evacuation will be at Fretwell Park Sports Complex On Robert Road in Edmonton on in South cans in an emergency department will start operating Out of the Fretwell Park Sports Complex from 9 a.m. Tomorrow morning So the hospital is still open overnight for emergency department services But from 9 a.m. Tomorrow morning Fretwell Park Sports Complex in Edmonton will be the site of Medical and emergency services and that is clearly being fitted out this afternoon and overnight Yes, it's very it's a very large complex when you say a slight Decrease from a day ago does that mean you're expecting less than a high level category for now No, no the it's not a decrease in the Intensity of the cyclone, but the modeling shows that because we're now more confident that it will arrive at low tide that and Modeling around winds and other information the the storm surge will be lower than originally anticipated There will still be a storm surge It is likely to be around the two to two and a half meter Above the highest tide and that's still a very serious Situation, but it will affect a less number of houses than a top and a higher storm surge There were some parts where it could have got to six meters and others where it would have been for so it's come down Significantly, but it will nevertheless impact as you heard still significant numbers of people Certainly our latest advice is that it is a category for it is close to Willis Island In fact past Willis Island on its way towards the coast and it is still tracking to near Cairns It's tracking just slightly north of where it was tracking this morning if you go and have a look at the the 2 p.m. Track No 50k so tomorrow morning's Cyclone modeling will give a level of precision around a 50 kilometer either way mark That's still quite a large margin of error and that's the nature of these that sort of events at 5 p.m. Tomorrow afternoon that will be revised further and we would hope again to be in a narrower band these these large cyclones obviously can move Even a small amount and affect a very different and significant area Okay, thank you folks I just urge everybody again if you are contacted by emergency services or police and Arcs to relocate yourself and your family. Please take this warning seriously This is a very significant and serious and potentially life-threatening cyclone