Cyclone Justin

Being a long-lived storm with a wandering motion, Justin produced major winds across Papua New Guinea that caused major damage on two occasions, once around 10 March and again around 17 March.[2][1] Around 30 people were killed in the country, with another 12,000 left homeless.[2]

Cyclone Justin affected the Solomon Islands between March 15–19, with heavy rain causing landslides and extensive damage to the Solomon Islands.[1][3]

Cyclone Justin left a devastating path of destruction that had a major economic impact. Its storm force winds, which reached up to 150 km/h, caused extensive damage to banana, sugar cane and pawpaw crops. This resulted in an overall loss of $150million to the Queensland Horticulture and Sugar Cane Industry, as these crops could no longer be exported or sold. This also resulted in expensive prices of Bananas and Pawpaws all over the country as there was a great demand for them but not enough products. Cyclone Justin's storm force winds also caused severe damage to power lines, which resulted in the power being out for 36 hours. Consequently, many businesses could not operate and some businesses lost perishable goods due to their fridges and freezers being unable to prevent food from going off. All of this resulted in a loss of income. Unemployment was also a major consequence of Cyclone Justin's destruction. The destruction of crops eliminated the need for truck drivers to transport the goods and harvesters to harvest the crops. Other jobs were also affected such as those in tourism, as holiday-makers avoided the area until the wreckages had been cleaned up. On the other hand, the building industry and manufacturers flourished as the need to repair to replace goods/buildings, which had been destroyed or damaged by Cyclone Justin, was tremendously high. With damage to many buildings, vehicles, produce and other items, thousands of insurances claims were made. Some insurance premiums then rose so that the companies could cover the cost of the claims.

The cyclone resulted in 7 fatalities; 5 people were on a yacht that sank, a woman was killed in a landslide which was triggered by the excessive rainfall, and a boy was electrocuted by a falling power line. The areas affected were very close knit communities, and so, when these fatalities occurred everybody was devastated. This resulted in the communities being brought together by their shared experiences and underlying grief. Many of the other social impacts of Cyclone Justin go hand in hand with the economic ones. For instance, some farmers' only source of income is their crops, so when their crops were destroyed they did not have anything left. This would have been a very stressful time, as they would have to find another way to make money in order to rebuild their properties/crops. This could have induced mental anguish on some of the farmers and resulted in them giving up on farming and moving away altogether. A similar situation would be felt by those who were rendered unemployed by the cyclone, as they would not have an income stream to support themselves on.

The environmental impact of Cyclone Justin was large and varied. The Great Barrier Reef was one of the most significant locations which were damaged by the cyclone. With a limited width of open water, the Barrier Reef is, as its name suggests, a barrier to the land against high swells. Although this means that the land is relatively well protected, the reef is exposed to high swells and large waves. When Cyclone Justin hit some parts, mainly around Heron Island and the Whitsundays, of the Great Barrier Reef's ecosystem were severely damaged. This is because Justin's extreme wave power caused the break-up of corals which many fish and other organisms relied on to live; in turn, this affected the larger organisms which relied on these smaller organisms to live, and so on. Some experts believe, however, that the break-up of hard corals is a positive impact as it is simply part of the reef's life cycle. Cyclone Justin also impacted the beaches along Northern Queensland. Many beaches experienced acute erosion due to high tides and storm surge. As well as this saltwater inundated many areas, specifically from Cooktown to Fraser Island. Many plants have an extremely low tolerance to saltwater and for that reason, a significant amount of vegetation along the coast died.