In the day or two before the cyclone, Dave and I spent our time preparing, in case the power went out. Which it did.
We stocked up on canned food, prepared the medicine kit, candles, charged all the batteries, rounded up portable radios, and filled the generator with petrol (plus stocked up on petrol at the servo -- had to wait in line a half hour to fill the tanks). And queued up with everyone else for beer (This is Australia after all).
The news stations kept us all informed, but faintly alarmed. We wondered if we weren't being silly for not evacuating. Our house was just at the edge of the projected storm surge, but since it's a two story, we thought we'd probably be fine. Probably. Hopefully. Oh, boy.
Comparison between projected Yasi storm path/damage with other devastating cyclones -- scary, because Katrina and Tracy were comparable sized storms --- Oh, we are going to be so flattened! |
The old house groaned like each nail was being twisted and pulled. From time to time a tree limb bashed against the side of the house. We turned on the radio to hear how bad the storm surge was going to be. In seaside towns, if a cyclone hits, it blows the tide up onto the beach and fills all the local creeks and rivers, causing flooding. If it got really bad here, we might have to climb on our roof.
Did I mention that I can't swim? At all. As in, sink like a rock.
But, all was well, and the tidal surge didn't get anywhere near our house. Whew!
In the morning we had a peek out our windows to check out the damage. Astonishingly, our skinny palm trees stood up to the storm, and only lost a few fronds. The low side of our yard was a bit flooded, but nothing major.
Well, I guess we won't have to water for a while |
However, out the back of the house, trees took a real beating.
The back stairs are here somewhere |
We were very lucky, if the storm had stayed true to its original course, we would have received a fair amount of flooding.
In town, near the Strand |
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Here's a cute message from Cairns.
Image from abc.net.au |
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