Well, its been an anxious, restless, distracted few days waiting for potential effects from Cyclone Alfred, but ultimately lucky as Alfred has ended up approaching slightly south of us (and has been downgraded now to a Tropical Low - though still producing HIGH winds and rain), meaning that we've escaped any real effects in our specific location (its been windy and a bit rainy at times, but nothing cyclonic). My heart goes out to those further south in Brisbane, Gold Coast and northern NSW however, who have faced days of gale-force winds, flooding, and over 300,000 people without power (largest power outage in QLD ever). I was very anxious about losing power (this is quite common in our region due to all the trees that can fall on power lines), and grateful this did not eventuate. Further south, lots of trees are down and some buildings have lost roofs or been otherwise damaged, lots of beach erosion, but no loss of life to date which seems a miracle (though this could still change as flash flooding increases the risk).
So where did I leave off in my last post? Originally Alfred was a Category 2 and due to hit land about 50 km south of us on Thursday morning. This is very rare to have a tropical cyclone so far south, the last one was in the 1970s. Our part of Australia is VERY highly populated and of course the buildings are not built to withstand cyclones, so everyone was VERY anxious about what it could mean. Not only that, but this region has a history of devastating floods, in fact only 3 years ago one town Lismore, had endured terrible flooding and hadn't fully rebuilt, and now they were evacuating again for another potential flood disaster. Brisbane, QLD's capital city of almost 3 million people, also has a history of devastating flooding, with 33 people dying in major floods in 2011. So to say the government and community were nervous was an understatement.
However, instead of Alfred hitting land on Thursday, it turned out he wanted to procrastinate. He stayed out to sea, moving at a snails pace towards land (6 km/hour at times), then looping back on himself, and coming back in again. This went on for DAYS. Regions south of us endured heavy winds and rain this whole time; in my area we just waited.
It felt a bit like a COVID lockdown - no school, trying to work from home with young kids underfoot, told to stay at home, urgently watching the news and scrolling social media (something I never do usually), but not in immediate danger myself. Because of her cold, E had been home ALL WEEK, and O had been home since Wednesday. I wish I could say I came up with creative, screen-free projects for the kids to keep them occupied, and did wholesome activities myself. But although the kids did some screen-free activities (building a den in their bedrooms on multiple days, for example), there has been A LOT of screentime. While my coping mechanisms have been drinking a lot of coffee and eating all our cyclone snacks! I managed to get a few hours of work done on Thursday and Friday, but it was constantly interrupted by kid requests. We went on a family walk on Friday since the weather looked OK, and Al and I have each managed to get a short walk or two in, but otherwise we've been inside this house for days on end.
In the end, Alfred finally started to hit land on Saturday morning. It hit some islands as a Category 2, became a Category 1, and then became a Tropical Low just off the mainland. And there it stayed for the next 24 hours! The weather bureau kept predicting it would move inland bringing heavy rainfall right over the top of us, up to 300 mm, but only light - moderate rain so far. Yesterday, knowing that Alfred at least wasn't going to hit us as a cyclone (rain we get quite often and can handle), gave me a new lease of energy, and I tidied parts of the house, swept the floors, did three loads of laundry, and cooked a big batch of creamy mushroom chicken drumsticks.
Overall, even if we do eventually get the predicted heavy rain, I will feel extremely grateful that we did NOT get hit by a cyclone, and I am very aware that there are hundreds of thousands of Australians doing it tough today with no power, damage to their houses, streetscapes etc, flooding rivers, and even army personnel in hospital after their vehicle rolled on their way to lend assistance. This disaster could have been much worse, but for those affected, it has been traumatic enough. I am also glad I now know HOW to prepare for a cyclone, with climate change it likely won't be the last time a cyclone comes into our area. This week has taught me a lot, even if thankfully I didn't need all I prepared for. And hopefully tomorrow we will back to normal, looking forward to work and school rhythms very much!
Happy weekend everyone - I hope yours has been a bit more "normal" than ours!
I’m glad the storm was not as bad as feared, but I’m sorry to hear that your region of the country was impacted!! Flash floods are so terrifying!! Those don’t happen around these parts typically but I know they’ve happened in other regions of the US.
I would’ve leaned into screen time as well! It’s tough to be home for that long and be limited in what you can do!