Cyclone Yasi

[Tintop]

Hi all

Just a quick visit to say that I and my Bonsai survived in Townsville

some trees down in my yard one on our house but clean up has well and truely begun with friends and neighbours
A big thanks to all the help

cheers

Pat

[Roger]

That's great news, Pat. That was some storm. All power to you and those who must now do the clean up and reestablish some sense of normality.

The remains of cyclone Anthony, almost forgotten as Yasi bore down on the coast, is still working its way through the southern eastern part of the continent. We've had over 100mm of rain in the past 72 hours, some two months worth. Trees down in many parts of the city. I had shade cloth ripped of its pole and two trees knocked over there, plus four other trees plucked from amongst the rest and toppled over. Only a few broken branches. Good thing it wasn't Yasi. Will have to see if it decides to follow Anthony all the way or just stay up north.

[Jerry Meislik]

Keeping our fingers crossed and sending prayers out for the safety of all.
Jerry

[Glenda]

My son David is a med student in Townsville, and was asked to 'volunteer' at a nursing home in Charters Towers (approx 150km SE of Townsville) during the cyclone - monitoring the elderly and just generally helping out as many staff had families and needed to tend to them. Charters Towers had a few houses unroofed and many trees down. When David returned to Townsville he was shocked at the number of trees down = many onto roofs, power lines, etc. He says they now have power where he is staying, but many areas are still without electricity.

He is supposed to go to the Atherton tablelands to start placement there on Monday, but the road north is still closed. At Cardwell (one of the worst-hit areas) the highway runs right beside the ocean - and most of the highway is now IN the ocean - washed away by the tidal surge. The scale of damage is so huge, there just aren't enough tradies to do the work. This was the main problem after cyclone Larry - people waited up to 3 years for their houses to be rebuilt or repaired. Imagine how long it will take with damage on this scale.

Our prayers and thoughts remain with those affected, whereever they are.

Glenda

[Ash]

Hi All,

Cyclone Yasi certainly made for a night to remember for the rest of our life. The noise was tremendous as the gale screamed over the house and trees for an afternoon, all night and into the next day. Many of the trees in our garden were smashed down and my greenhouses copped a hammering, but our wee house stood up and we were safe inside (with my bonsai). Not everything is quite as square and plum as it used to be- but hey that adds character. Everything inside has gotten filthy from debris blown into every gap the wind could make. Our power-lines have been down and we lost water but just this evening power was restored thanks to many a hard hard worker. I feel very sorry for my close friends who have lost much, especially those at Euramo and on the Hull. It is such a nice sound to hear their voices on the phone.

Looking at the many hundred kilometre wide stretch of smashed trees is gonna be a hard thing for a tree hugger like me to cop. Many old and giant favourites have come down. If I could have brought them all into my house to shelter I would have but frankly they just wont fit.

Hope the rest of you from Ayr to Cairns have faired OK!

regards
Ash