Australian Politician Has to Ask People to Stop Taking Selfies During a Cyclone

As Cyclone Veronica battered western Australia over the weekend, officials have found themselves in the dumb position of having to tell constituents to please stop taking selfies during a deadly storm.

“Don’t take matters into your own hands,” Mark McGowan, Premier of Western Australia, said after hearing reports that people were outside on their phones, snapping away in the 100 mile per hour winds.

“Don’t risk your own life, don’t risk the lives of your children, don’t risk the life of others,” he said, according to The Australian.

Veronica was actually the second in a pair of cyclones that hit Australia within a day of each other. Thousands were forced to evacuate ahead of Cyclone Trevor, which made landfall Saturday around 11 a.m. local time as a Category 4 cyclone.

The cyclones came on the heels of Australia’s hottest summer on record, heating surrounding sea waters to abnormally high temperatures and thereby creating the perfect environment for tropical storms.

As heavy rains and flooding continue, officials have reiterated that the danger is not over yet. “It is still a cyclone, and there is still the red alert in force,” a spokesman for the Department of Fire and Emergency Services said. “People will also need to be aware of their surroundings and be watchful of anything that might be a safety hazard.”

In other words, don’t go outside for selfies during a cyclone! Your hair will be a mess anyway.