July Update: In today’s paper there was an article about the amount of homes still waiting for repairs or demolition due to damage caused by Cyclone Larry. The relentless wet weather has made it difficult or impossible for tradespeople to work on these 7500+ homes in Innisfail and surrounding areas.
April Update: I am amazed at the amount of media coverage more-or-less saying that things are okay in cyclone affected areas. There are headlines celebrating how many can now access power and how many millions the government has promised. But day-to-day life in the zone is still a very scary situation for so many people…
I like the comments here: Cylone Larry: The Aftermath
Our Experience:
On Monday 20th March 2006, a category five cyclone smashed into the north Queensland coast in the Innisfail region and blew right across the top end, settling as a tropical low north of Mt Isa.
See: Bureau of Meteorolgy - Cyclone Larry
We were on holidays visiting friends on the Atherton Tablelands. We’d heard the cyclone warnings over the weekend and decided that we were in a safe place with plenty of supplies, so stayed put. So many tropical cyclones change paths, turn around, fizzle out and otherwise allow us reprieve each monsoon season. Not Larry.
We woke quite early, it was still dark. The wind was howling like a jet engine and a few loose items were being blown about downstairs. The gusts of wind were already very powerful. We dressed and rushed to secure the last items near the house, batten down and check the weather for the day on the Internet.
It was our friend Grace’s birthday, but the excitment wasn’t what we expected. Trees crashed and water leaked in as the 240km gusts blew rain sideways into window and door frames. The house stood solid and escaped any damage by projectiles. We felt quite safe in the spacious laundry, watching through a window and reassuring the children. It was surreal to look through a window at so much power and destruction and feel warm, secure and hopeful of as little damage as possible…
The forceful gales and relentless rain were like nothing we’d ever experienced. The shed (in our view) was being battered from all sides and most of its roof came off. Part of it landed on Nick’s vehicle and huge posts lifted over a metre out of the ground.
The cyclone seemed to last for a very long time. There was the eerie calm of the eye, until the wind came hurtling at us from the opposite direction. This time the gales weren’t so fierce, but there were a lot more projectiles around the house so we were fearful that these may cause serious damage to the house and vehicles. We didn’t dare doubt our own safety, as we stayed close and careful, sheltered by The House That Nick Built…
When the roar finally calmed and it seemed safe enough to venture outdoors we were all shocked by the destruction. It was amazing that the house was not affected. We were all grateful to be unharmed in the wake of nature’s fury. It was this joy which lifted our spirits in the face of so much chaos around us. The shed was destroyed - debris littered the paddocks and shed floor. Its contents were wet, smashed or both. Trees were uprooted and snapped like twigs. Leaves were stripped from the forest so that where a thick wall of green rainforest once obscured our view there were brown trunks and limbs dangling dangerously. The canopy was shredded. The road into our friends’ property was littered with hundreds of trees.
We were trapped! Once we heard news of the outside world, though, we knew we were in a safe place. Roads were covered in broken trees, powerlines and other debris. The electricity was cut to the entire region. Flooding closed the highway soon after. We assisted with the clean up as best we could and tried to help maintain high spirits in this time of disappointing loss. There was much cooking, gardening, salvage and repair to be done during the days. At night we chatted, watched movies, played music and enjoyed our unusual holiday time together.
Unlike thousands of others in the area, we had power, water, satellite internet connection and plenty of supplies. The alternative energy system and self-sufficiency in water and some food passed this test with flying colours. Admittedly, it was becoming difficult to come up with new recipes containing pumpkin and/or choko, but that old wood stove never failed to feed us!
Cyclone Wati, which was following a similar path to Larry, had us on our toes until it did a turnabout and travelled south along the coast and out to sea. To suffer another big blow with all the potential missiles around was a very scary prostpect!
We wondered about the state of our place near Ingham in the days that followed. Flooding is rare in late March so we hadn’t fully prepared at home. As the rain fell in the catchment, the river inevitably rose. Our very kind neighbours put in an enormous effort to protect our possessions and clean up the mud afterwards. Other family and friends did what they could to ensure minimal damage. We are blessed.
Back in Tarzali, the wonderful S.E.S. volunteers from Kuranda put in hours of back-breaking work to clear the road to the house. Nick and Gary had done two days of preliminary clearing to enable motorbike access and therefore tell the local council that help was required. No phones worked in the area due to the long period of time without electricity.
On the Saturday we were able to leave with caution. We were towed to the bitumen road and made our way carefully down the range. The destruction was so wide-spread that our hearts ached for all those affected. The beautiful rainforest we drove through just over a week earlier was reduced to sticks. The lovely park we stopped at in Innisfail every time we travelled north was a mess of uprooted trees and smashed playground equipment.
The devastation we witnessed on Saturday 25th March as we drove south along the highway is something I hope we never have to witness again. We can understand how Larry has been likened to 1974’s Cyclone Tracy in Darwin and we’re all thankful and amazed that there was no loss of life or serious injury.
Love and light to everyone affected by Cyclone Larry. May you receive the assistance you need to rebuild your homes, your businesses and your lives.