Its hard to believe that only one short week ago we were still reeling from the biggest storm to hit this region. A storm which, at its centre, took out 1 in 3 homes. A storm that did some major landscaping work in our yard and left us without power for days.
These massive trees were down all over our neighbourhood. (Photo by Carol Watson)
In some ways the threat of a big storm is exciting. Blue skies and a slight breeze would have been deceiving if not for bom.gov.au – the website we used to track the storm as it made its approach.
And so it was the big circle on our computer screen that motivated us to pack up our important documents, clear our yard, fill our bathtub with water, and pull out the gas cooking stove… just in case.
In case came.
As we tucked into bed at a neighbour’s house by the beam of a flashlight (yes, we evacuated. have you seen the dodgy windows at our place?!), we heard the crash of a massive tree.
The tree that fell on Ken & Robyn's house
Hello, Yasi.
The next morning was a mixture of shock and relief. There were power lines and trees down on our street, our neighbourhood and across town. And yet, almost no damage to homes or lives.
Just around the corner (photo by Carol Watson)
A miracle, truly.
Thanks for your prayers.
Jared went out to assess the damage and check up on everyone. So it was a little… uh, funny??… when he checked on the girls who live in the unit below us and they had wondered if our roof had been torn off in the night. Water was pouring down from upstairs and flooding their living room.
No, the roof it still on, he assured them as he went upstairs to find out what had happened.
Our windows had been blown open by the storm. In the kitchen, the mini blinds were down to catch any glass that might blow out. (Stupid, Rebekah, stupid. If a cyclone blows glass its going to blow it past those stupid blinds anyway and get it all over your kitchen floor, back stairs, sink, and more. Yes, I know this now.)
So the mini blinds were caught up in the strong winds and managed to get entangled in the kitchen faucet, pulling it on and flooding our kitchen, all the way down to the girls downstairs.
We felt like cyclone idiots.
Building across the street from our YWAM centre (photo by Carol Watson)
But we recovered quickly, washing the mold which started growing almost immediately, drinking our rationed water when the city’s supply grew contaminated, cooking on a gas stove, picking up trees (two of which we were quite happy to lose – they were making a mess in the pool anyway), and helping to launch a city-wide cleanup effort.
The grocery stores are still stocked sporadically. But we have power. We’re drinking water from the tap. And we celebrated a birthday.
Yes, life goes on…
