Winter Storms

Well, as you might have heard, we went thru an horrific storm over here and left 160000 people without power since 2pm yesterday. As of 5am this morning , 116,000 people still have not being connect. Our area was the worst hit in the state as we live in tornado valley and it lived up to its name. The destruction to people’s houses/properties was unbelievable. Then there were trees laying on their sides, power poles snapped or looking worse than the “Leaning Tower Of Pizza”. Streets totally blocked and redirection is a pain in the proverbial.
I’m wondering how Rosalie is copeing?
As for our house we finally just have power on after 17hrs of blackness. We wore most of the area’s rubbish in our yard and the pool looks like a mud bath. It is ready for Mr and Mrs Marron and the young ones to set up house ....which I can handle, but the Missus wants her pool back ......so there is a few hours work there to bring it back to scratch. As for the roses,...well the winds grabbed their skirts and hurled them into the air and then turned around and threw most of them on their back with their feet up. Another job once it stops raining.
But all in all, we are safe and well and there are lots of games one can play in the pitched darkness.....as for the pool...hmmmm....I think I will leave that till after Tuesday , as they say the storm is going to be worse tomorrow....come to think of it.....might get another blackout......I just might have to think up some new games...... ......

certainly was bad, read it in the paper this morning AS long as your roses are all okay and no real damage done, the rest can be tidied up in a few days

Wondered how you fared John , I saw that Rockingham copped a hammering.

We lost power just before 3pm on Sunday and had it restored about 7pm last night just as I was starting to cook tea by gaslight again.

When the power didn't come on before dark on Sunday , Kevin rigged up one of the gennys down the shed and it ran a light , the telly and my big freezer. He lit the fire and had the place snug and warm and took the kids down there to watch telly while I got some tea together and got the fire up the house here cranking to heat the water up.

We had actually taken the camper down to Paynedale on Saturday and camped out overnight on a friends property as they had calves for me to mark on Sunday . Well those plans all changed when it started raing just before dawn. Cooking breakfast in the rain was fun and packing up everything else and wet tent etc etc was even more fun
Even one was sodden and freezing by the time we finished. It rained quite heavily until we got to the otherside of Donnybrook and then we seemed to drive out of it.
By the time we turned up the Preston Rd to go up to Collie Kevin was chuntering and he did all the way home about how we got drenched down there and we had had hardly any rain at home lol.

He unhooked the camper down the shed and started unloading everything that needed drying out in the shed and I took the car up to the house and started unloading wet clothes and bedding into the laundry and then the rest of the stuff.
I could see this squall line developing to the north of us and I ran inside with the last food boxes as the wind really picked up. The clothesline was spinning like mad and swaying so i jumped in the Patrol and took it back down the shed because I could see one of the arms knocking out a car window in very short order if I didn't .
At this stage it was only blowing , not raining. Kevin had got the camper open and started to unfold it to dry it off. At one stage Matthew and I were holding on to guy ropes for dear life and expecting to sail off over the rainbow a la "The Wizard of Oz" at any moment.
We ended up with it tied to the shed and the Patrol and the tractor to keep it anchored. I ran back up to the house before the rain started and the wind really cranked up a gear or two. And it shattered down too.
Actually remembered to grab the camera this time and this is a bit of what I recorded.
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There was no power and no landline telephone yesterday morning and we have no mobile reception here at home anyway so it was a really weird feeling being so cut off.
The kids stayed home from school as there was no lighting or heating and the Principal has closed it today too [will just have to see what tomorrow brings] I went into town for more diesel and torch batteries , candles etc.
The commercial part of the town had it's power restored [but there are still some residential parts today that have no power or water] so I could get what I needed and also bought a phonecard so I could ring and check on my dad [he lives down at Dunsborough and it had been reported on the wireless that the Cape's had really copped it worst] and also Kevin's parents down in Bunbury.
When I got back from town , Kevin had bought the second genny up the house and had it hooked up to the telly [cartoons on Foxtel to keep the kids happy] the freezer , a light in the kitchen and a heat lamp to my chicks .
I lost the youngest one on Sunday afternoon but the others that were slightly older coped being put in a box and being bought inside by the fire.
They didn't mind sitting in the dark as long as they were warm.

I'm cooking a roast for tea now so if this next doozy hits this arve as predicted and we lose power again , the meat is done and veg I can manage on the gas stovetop.

Some tips that somebody else might find useful .

I don't like using candles particularly , especially with my kids around . Their fiddly fingers just can't help "Looking" at things and too many house fires have been caused by candles. So I avoid the long upright style at all costs.
The best ones I have found are the tealight type and i have both 4 and 8 hour ones. I put them inside vegimite and jam jars and I know if the kids try to fiddle they will burn themselves on the hot glass before they can reach the candle ; even so I do try to keep them out of reach too.
To keep the stuff in my new fridge cold , I made space to lie down a couple of bags of ice that I bought in Collie and used it like a giant eskie. Kevin didn't want to hook it to the genny as it has a computer chip in it. The freezer compartment must have some really good insulation around it because even after being without power for 27 hours , nothing inside had started to defrost.

Now it's just waiting , waiting to see what tonight brings. We were given an ETA this morning of about 5 pm and the Perth metro area of about 7pm.
I must say , if we are to have windstorms , I much prefer them in the daylight hours so I can see what's going on. It always seems so much worse in the dark when you can't see what is making all those dreadful thumps and bangs and crashes.

I see that the storm is due at 5pm and full force at 9pm and I am expected to go out tonight...hmmm.....need to check that again....

But it is good to see that you and the family are safe and have a roof over your head...right now it is calm before the storm with light showers here. As for lights....those rechargeable camping lights that are led's are good for a couple of days light before charging is required...

Now we wait......

Wow.,Neptune and OzRose, what a great bit of on-the-spot reportage. Our boring rain in the Hunter is just plain dull, so I have no news that can even compare. Lovedlovedloved your video and your very country=Oz attitude, OzRose, as you surveyed the carnage. "Oh bugger, tree's down. Oh well, can't be helped".

I think a rose flashed by in frame. It looked like it was calling for help .

Neptune, which rechargeable lights do you like? Yeah, a really unimportant question right now, but maybe you can advise when the storm runs its course.

That rose is my 7' something The Children's Rose , Betsy and as we have had a lull in the showers , I am about to go and give it an early prune so it doesn't end up like my grevillea "Elegance" did on Sunday.

Out of here....
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to looking like this ....
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keep safe oz and neptune , that weather sure is nasty so hope, the next lot passes you both with no damage

betsyw wrote:Neptune, which rechargeable lights do you like? Yeah, a really unimportant question right now, but maybe you can advise when the storm runs its course.

The two I like are the.....

Coleman LED Quad Lantern and the
Rayovac Battery Operated 300 Lumens LED Lantern.

Both have there advantages...but for the cost of both, it is worth the money to have both in the house

Oz Rose
We used to grow natives but we found that they always fell over. We worked out that the ones being sold by the nurseries around here are from dry areas or areas with poor soil and in those areas the plants needed to sent roots out a long way to collect water or food. Here where it is wetter the roots did not need to expand very far so they didn't. Consequently wet ground plus wet foliage plus a bit of wind and over they went.

Lots of people got caught up with "drought proof" plant scam during the dry years recently suffered in lots of areas in Oz. Now their plants are dead (too much water) or fallen over (see above) or have grown a lot larger than they should and have simply broken off. It is interesting that roses in general survived the dry and mostly the change to wet without many problems

To the above people who replied to the original post, thank you for your concerns and best wishes. We survived 11hrs last night of belting rain and wind and came thru unscathed, except for a huge cleanup coming my way. Once that is done...just might need a holiday...

I think the winds were worst down on the coast last night , it was windy here but nothing like Sunday.
We had plenty of thunder and lightening and 35mm of rain , but all in all it was bearable. I can see the coming week-end being spent clearing up too.

as long as it is only surface damage, loss of life and injuries are always a worry Glad it was the end of your rose season and not the beginning !!!

There has only been one reported fatality Thee, and that was a chap who was helping his elderly neighbour secure his garage roof . The younger bloke fell and sustained severe injuries and died a short while after he arrived at the Peel Health Campus. By all accounts he was a fellow who was always ready to bog in and lend a hand where he could so he will be sadly missed in his local community . May you now R.I.P. bloke.
There might have been traffic crash related injuries due to the weather but all in all , people have been very lucky. So many stories of trees coming down on houses or houses copping flying debris from other properties ; it could have been a whole lot worse.
Bricks and mortar [and gardens] can be replaced but people can't.

Absolute heartfelt thanks to all the Western Power line'ies and the SES vollies for all their hard work in unpleasant conditions and for the interstate workmen who have come over to relieve our weary workforce .
Apparently there are some powerline crews and also Telstra linesmen from over east come to join in the repair efforts, so we thank them too for leaving their homes and families and coming over to give assistance.
There are still some 26,000 households in W.A without a landline telephone connection ; well we are one of them , and no mobile service for voice calls - I can send texts if I walk down the paddock to press send.
But that is minor.

I already have some new things to plant in the space where we lost Elegance.

Good to see you and the family safe Rosalie......

Yes the SES and Vols. are overlooked most times, they do such a great job too o!!!