Saturday, February 5, 2011

Batterings and Crossroads II

First things first: I have heard from my Dad. He, my brother and my brother’s family are all safe and well.

As I said Dad is north of Cairns and was missed by the worst of the cyclone. He has had some large trees that he planted over twenty years ago blown down and other damage in his garden.
Conrad and his family live in Innisfail where many houses were destroyed. Their garden has been destroyed but fortunately their house survived intact.

Now it is Victoria’s turn.
This photo was taken from the Bureau of Meteorology and shows the remains of the storm. Yasi has been downgraded to a tropical low. It is the circular feature in the centre of Oz over the South Australia and Northern Territory border.

The remains of Yasi are about 2,500 kilometres (1,600 miles) from here. It no longer packs deadly winds itself. But it is still such a huge low pressure system that it is pulling in weather from all around the continent.

The huge stream of cloud coming in from the south east (about 5 O’clock) is covering the whole of Victoria.

It isn’t just a wisp of cloud it is a whole stream of dense clouds, much of it made up of Super-Cell Thunderstorms. We had more than our whole month’s average rainfall in just over 18 hours. And more is on the way.

The outcome: flash flooding all across the state and in particular right through Melbourne. Roads are cut everywhere and people have been evacuated from many areas.

We once again are fine (our house is nicely placed on a hill) but things are tough for a lot of other people.

Now to me. I haven’t talked about my personal stuff again. Once again I guess my thoughts have been overtaken by events. So you’ll just have to stay tuned.

17 comments:

Old Kitty said...

Poor Australia is certainly taking a battering!!! :-( Nature has been so relentless!

Take care
x

Ellen Brickley said...

I'm glad to hear your family are all OK Al, but thoughts are still with everyone who hasn't been so lucky. Take care.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Al .. delighted to hear the family (both of them) are alright and essentially without too much damage.

The storm looks pretty ghastly .. but glad you're safe and on high ground ..

Thanks for updating us .. all the very best - Hilary

Charmaine Clancy said...

It has been rather eerie, all these disasters. Reminds us that we do live in a wild and untamed land. Good to see the technological age we live in means people get a better chance of being warned in advance - that must have saved lives.

Kathleen Jones said...

I really feel for you all. We're being battered here at the moment, but nothing like Australia - 70mph winds overnight and have had two days of torrential rain and the river up to the top of the front steps for more than 36 hrs. More to come tomorrow. What a wierd winter this is. A lot of people will be glad to see the back of La Nina!

Lisa said...

Friends in Melbourne posted piccies on Facebook of a flash flood they got caught in. Very scary stuff. Glad to hear that your family is safe, although what a pity about their gardens and those trees. Keep safe. Unbelievable that a country that suffered from drought for so long is now suffering from a surfeit of rain.

Jai Joshi said...

I'm glad they're safe. Australia's been hit by so much recently.

Jai

Deniz Bevan said...

Glad to hear your family is safe!

Jemi Fraser said...

Australia has had a couple of really tough months. Hope your family continues to stay safe and well.

Al said...

Hi Jennifer,
We have been knocked around a bit lately.
Much brighter today.

Hi Ellen,
Thanks for your thoughts.

Hi Hillary,
It has been pretty miserable over a lot of the country.
Much better here in Melbourne today.

Hi Charmaine,
I guess it’s a function of our dear old country. From one extreme to the other.
Two years ago we had Black Saturday this year it’s not fire but water. You’re right about the warnings. There probably would have been hundreds of lives at real risk in FNQ if people on the coast hadn’t had good warnings.

Hi Kathleen,
You’ve been copping it too by the sounds of it.
In a way I’ve been lucky, but I have had some worries about family. But given what might have been we have been fortunate.


Hi Lisa,
It is a shame about Dad and Conrad’s gardens, but realistically so many people lost their homes that I still think they are very fortunate.
It is the way Oz’s climate works. Cycles of wet an dry years with hardly any ‘average’ years.
Pleased to hear your Melbourne friends came through.

Hi Jai,
Thank you!

Hi Deniz,
Thank you!

Hi Jemi,
It has been rough. But although we have had a number of family members potentially in harms way we are OK and that is the main thing.

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Rebecca A Emrich said...

good to hear that you are all safe. take care!

Hart Johnson said...

Man, that's a big storm! Very glad your family is all safe and homes are secure. Sad to lose trees, but it seems it could have been much worse.

Kyna said...

Wow, the satellite image of that thing looks INSANE! I'm so glad you and your family are all right O_O

Ann said...

So glad to hear all your family are safe. You really are getting a terrible battering there. I will keep you and yours in my prayers. Take care Al.

MTeacress said...

Even after all that, you still have power and internet. It's so satisfying to hear you're all safe.

Theres just life said...

Al I know what you have been going through. We went through 2 hurricanes within a 3 year period. The constant wind noise I think is the worst part. Luckily we are on a hill as well so we didn't have the flood problem, except trying to get anywhere. I have been thinking and praying for all my Aussie friends a lot this year. I just hope this isn't a foretelling of the way our hurricane season will be this year.