We kept a diary leading up to Cyclone Yasi- It was a first for all three of us, and an experience I don't particularly want to have to repeat! As Carlos bears down on our friends in Darwin, the following are some of my thoughts leading up to the storm, and through the powerless days afterwards!
Wednesday 2 Feb 2011
1217 h
The house is now ready- or at least as ready as we can be. The bath is full, pictures are off the wall, the chooks are locked in the garage and we have water aplenty. I have even filled home brew bottles with water just in case. Have to hope I remember to exchange water for the good stuff when this is all over!
The wind is also up and we have had our first heavy squall. The roads were full of people making a last minute decision to try and outrun this weather system- against all advice. It is going to be bad, but safest place is in the home.
We seem to have been lucky with the house that Defence gave us. We appear to be out of the flood surge area, and are in no imminent danger of flood related evacuation.
Expecting to lose power for a significant length of time during and after this.
Other than that, we are in good spirits, and not particularly looking forward to the cleanup afterwards.
1253 h
Had lunch- There is an excellent bakery here in Townsville- 3 loaves bakehouse- that was open today. I bought a loaf of French Sourdough, and we have lunched on egg and lettuce sandwiches. The eggs are from our own chickens, and the bread was great.
Also had an excellent Celtic Red Ale. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon! (Particularly on a school day)
Wind has dropped down a little, but the sky is totally grey. It is coming!!
1547 h
Both Jane and I have had a sleep. If this thing gets really bad, I think we will be in for a long and sleepless night, so best to get it while we can. Calls and well wishes continue to come in from friends and family all over the country.
People seem to be generally more concerned than we are. Do they know more, and are we blasé, or is the fact that we are here and experiencing the storm (soon) put us more in control?
Either way, the noise will be horrendous, there will be damage (trust that our preparation is good enough), and we will clean up afterwards.
The winds are really getting up now, and there are birds sheltering under our patio.
1906 h
According to the BOM maps, we now have the strong gale force winds. Feels like the wind strength is getting up a bit. Still a long way to go!
Still have power, and watching the cricket!! (Almost feels like a normal night- but with a definite sense of foreboding)
Have torches, with spare batteries handy. Hand wind radio, candles, gloves and ‘appropriate’ shoes are all ready. We won’t be evacuating, but could go at very short notice if we had to. Just need to pull a couple of files from the filing cabinet.
2040 h
During a news conference held by Anna Bligh, and with six overs to go in the cricket, the power went out. We both had a shower, as we had no idea how long we might be without water for. The winds were huge, and the sound was like a freight train- in surround sound. We went to bed- nothing else to do as it was well dark.
After being in our bed on the windward side of the house, and feeling and seeing the walls and window flex with the wind, we decided to move to a spare room on the other side of the house.
We pulled the swags out, in case we might have to sleep in the hallway. Because of Jane’s lack of ease with getting down to the floor these days, this was only going to happen if we had windows blow in.
2150 h
We heard a sharp crack, very close to the house, so I went to investigate. Our side fence (backing onto the park) had snapped off at ground level!
Inspections at the front of the house showed trees down, but little other property damage.
We went to bed, and at some stage must have become immune to the noise, as we both slept a bit. Jane struggled with the lack of a fan, and had to dunk her feet in the bath every so often just to keep cool.
Thursday 03 Feb 2011
0430 h
Rudely awakened by Mum… Lovely to be able to let her know that we were OK, but sleep after that storm was also nice. Probably just as well that we did get hold of them then, as our phones went out at about that point for the rest of the day.
0600 h and the rest of 3 Feb
As soon as it was light, we could survey the damage. In addition to the fence, we had also lost some guttering off the patio. At the front of the house, there were trees down everywhere.
I went for a walk, and it was the same everywhere- Lots of whole trees just pushed over, the odd fence down, but little structural damage.
On the radio, we started to hear the reports from other places, mostly talking about how lucky they had all been.
We drove to friends houses to make sure they were OK- some hadn’t lost power at all. While there we were able to watch the absolute ridiculous sensationalism put forward by tabloid journalists (Nine, Seven and Ten) all looking for a story, and telling one that didn’t exist.
Yes there was a lot of damage here in Townsville, and we still had massive gusts up until about 2:00pm. But the damage was mostly cosmetic. The fences can go back up, people will eventually get their power back on, and the trees will be chipped into mulch. There were a couple of homes that got totalled, but very few.
Some of the damage in our immediate area...
We definitely dodged a bullet up here in the north. Tully, Cardwell, Innisfail and Mission Beach will take a lot longer to recover, as they were in the path of the eye.
We got power back late afternoon, and went for a drive to see if any restaurants were open. Most were just starting to get back to work, and seeing what if any stock they could salvage. By Monday, it will be pretty much life as normal up here.
Come and visit- we’ve got plenty of room, and the beer is cold!
The result- We have had the damage assessed, and it will get fixed when there are builders free to do the work. The chooks have a slightly smaller yard to play in, and are still not laying as much as they were before the storm. We were three hours short of the government grant for lost power- but would far rather have the power.
I never got called to help up north. Only about 500 of our boys and girls did, although many more were wanting to go.
We might look to buy a generator...
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