• Hey all. So I'm bored and sitting at home with no power and it's been the first night since we went through cyclone Yasi.

    Cyclone Yasi is the first cat 5 cyclone to cross our coast since 1918.

    As some of you may know I just avoided getting stuck in the Brissy floods and have only been home several weeks now.

    Cyclone Yasi crossed mission beach at 1am. (I am in Townsville, so we were south of the eye which apart from being in the eye was the worst weather).

    We live in a highset house. The night was very long and scary. Our house twisted, swayed and moved constantly in the breeze which had my heart in my throat many a times.

    The one thing that kept me sane, Hope. She wasn't scared, put off or anything but was just laid back and chilling out. She slept most of it (unlike us humans who laid there wondering when the roof would fly off). We (me, hope and my partner) bunkered down in our hallway for the night.

    We have only one large tree in our yard out the front of our house which would be infront of the lounge room. At one point I decided to get up n check on something and as I walked past the window near the tree all of a sudden I heard a loud ear splitting crack and bang, crunch, crumble. I ducked as I thought the roof was peeling away right where I was standing but after the bang I realized my roof was still there.. So what the frig was it? So by this time the OH is beside me and we look out the window to find our tree that is taller than our highset house now residing on our neighbors garage roof and squashing our fence (sigh) so we go back to the hallway n clamber back into the swag (where the basenji is residing, fast asleep).

    We fall in and out of light sleep as we listen to things crash into the side of our house and things moving underneath the house. Morning finally cones and by mid morning we venture out to see the destruction.

    Items moved around, washing machine moved several meters, se as a work bench. Boat ok, check. Cars ok, check… Wait. Open the doors to my car and a river of water flows out! Ah! My thongs floating around inside. The wind had managed to smush leafs and grass into my window seal which then allowed the rain in. sigh. The house had paint peeling off on one side like some had gurnied it and we have a large crack up our wall. The cement under the house where the poles are have new cracks in the cement from moving.

    The town is a mess n we are without power. So will post photos when the laptops up n running again etc.

    Hope was great. She slept or just chilled out.


  • O my gosh… I?m so happy to hear you, your partner and Hope are healhty...

    Is it over now or is there more on the way? I so hope everyting wil get calm there....
    Hugs


  • Wow…. glad to hear that you are OK and the damage was to "things" not people or animals!

    Didn't the eye come over Cairns? We were there in 1990 and I think if I remember right the eye was to pass right over the town?

  • Houston

    I've been worried about you, thinking it was bound to get closr. Glad you and yours are safe.
    When hurricane Ike hit here in Houston in 2008, we had no electricity for 15 days, that was rough…


  • Category 5 - that would frighten me to pieces. I am glad to hear that you and your loved ones were not hurt. How special that you had Hope there with you, all calm. To go through that and not get scared shows just how well adjusted she is. You have one special dog there! Wishing you a quick cleanup and a life back to 'normal'.


  • I'm glad you and yours are okay despite the damage! Living near the Gulf Coast in the US
    I've been through many hurricanes including Katrina which only skirted us but did plenty of damage. Nothing quite so terrifying! You are in my thoughts and prayers. Lenora & Abbey


  • The eye was supposed to hit cairns (hence why we did not evacuate being 4hrs away in Tsv). However within the last few hours it tracked south heading below innisfail (it was then between innisfail n cardwell) but then went up a touch to
    Mission Beach. (thank god for Internet on phones- we were following BOMs tracking map). with cyclones the most damaging part is below the eye and around it so innisfail/mission beach copped it around the eye and ingham/Cardwell where next heading south n then we r only 100k from ingham. We received cat 3 like conditions here.

    I feel so sorry for innisfail area going through that again (they went through cyclone Larry only just 5 yrs ago so some have only just rebuilt).

    Today is 2nd day after and the town still without water and power (not too concerning yet as we have supplies). Got photos of damage to our house and photos and videos of our area the morning after that I will share once the power comes back. I couldn't imagine going 15 days without power (although it doesn't bother us as we are regular campers so we have our gear to cook etc). They believe it won't be back on until Monday. Some parts came on last night N other parts aren't. So many power lines down. Yasi was just so huge, it was that big that towns inland that had never had a cyclone had cat 1/2 conditions

    Waiting for ses to remove our tree so the neighbour can come home (blocks the from of her lowest house. I think cleanup shodget underway today.

    Going through Katrina would have been scary.


  • Hi Lysh,

    I havent been on the Basenji Forum for some days now, but I was thinking of you, while watching the whole thing unravel, hoping you would be ok… I just cant believe the 'crap' that Qld has had to put up with in the last month. Mother Nature an be a very cruel lady, as she proved this month... Bushfires in WA, while south Qld was flooding, and now Vic suffering flash floods as a consequence of Cyclone Yasi :mad: Oh and I forgot Vic had bush fires just early last week, just before the flas flooding came in...

    Just incredible weather we are experiencing in Aust at the moment...

    Glad to hear that you were all ok, if not VERY frightened... Wasn't Hope a trouper, sleeping through it all !!! As someone mentioned, a testament to her breeding... I believe that both Lou and Chris are all ok, but both had some damage to their yards ??? Do you know how they are ???

    Hoping you get the power on ASAP...


  • I've been worried about everyone in that area, just saw this thread! Glad you and family are OK, Lish, Hope you have power soon and that your home can be repaired easily. So funny that Hope was not the least concerned about a cat 5 storm! Basenji puppies can sleep through anything.


  • Really happy to hear from you all… I was also concerned. Sending you guys happy thoughts and hoping life returns to a semi state of normalcy soon. Hugs!


  • Glad you are all ok… Is your house wooden.. We have lots of hurricanes here, but luckilyu most of our construction is concrete. I would really be scared to live thru a category five in a wooden house!!!!....

  • First Basenji's

    I'm so glad you are all ok and had minimal damage!
    I hope that you get water and power back soon. Growing up in hurricane-prone areas, I know how rough it can be after a while. I've always thought that going through those kinds of storms at night were so much worse than if they were to blow through during the day. I always felt a little safer during the day since I could see what was going on.

    Hope's adorable! I can't believe she slept through the whole thing. Cody would have been so nosy and trying to figure out what was making all that noise! Moe, our family mix, was like that when he was younger. He was fearless too; he would run outside when the winds would briefly calm to do his business and save his favorite pinecone. Now he hates storms of any kinds and will either hide under the coffee table or tremble in my dad's lap.


  • I too have been thinking of you all and I'm so relieved that you, OH and Hope are OK. Typical Basenji Hope, to take it all in her stride - what a comfort she must have been to you.


  • thank you all, i will post some photos when i get them on the net 🙂 life has started to return back to normal and im back at work. Power is back on to most of the city but the water is still a tight issue (outside waterban).

    @saba:

    Hi Lysh,

    Just incredible weather we are experiencing in Aust at the moment…

    Glad to hear that you were all ok, if not VERY frightened... Wasn't Hope a trouper, sleeping through it all !!! As someone mentioned, a testament to her breeding... I believe that both Lou and Chris are all ok, but both had some damage to their yards ??? Do you know how they are ???

    Hoping you get the power on ASAP...

    Yeah Australia is taking it hard atm. Bush fires, floods and cyclones. argh.

    Louise is fine, they only got power on the day before yesterday. I think the majority of Townsville has lost its trees (they are saying about 75%) so alot of damage everywhere but not much to houses thankfully. I dont know about Chris though.

    @dmey:

    Glad you are all ok… Is your house wooden.. We have lots of hurricanes here, but luckilyu most of our construction is concrete. I would really be scared to live thru a category five in a wooden house!!!!....

    Unfortunatly, my house is wooden, its also a highset. Not such a great combination. Thankfully, i only rent and when it comes to buying a house in the near future - it will be in much better construction. The cyclone was originally sposed to hit Cairns which we would only get cat 2 winds but it then tracked south later that night before crossing (mission beach) there was several times once we started receiving cat 3 winds with gusts of a cat 4 that i thought we had stuffed up very badly in making the decision to stay (there was no evacuation in place) next time we will be going somewhere that is a bit better cyclone proof rather than a fibro highset house. When the cyclone was crossing i had my heart in my throat several times. I went from worrying about the roof going to just worrying the house was going to rip off its stilts.

    @crystalncody:

    I'm so glad you are all ok and had minimal damage!
    I hope that you get water and power back soon. Growing up in hurricane-prone areas, I know how rough it can be after a while. I've always thought that going through those kinds of storms at night were so much worse than if they were to blow through during the day. I always felt a little safer during the day since I could see what was going on.

    Hope's adorable! I can't believe she slept through the whole thing. Cody would have been so nosy and trying to figure out what was making all that noise! Moe, our family mix, was like that when he was younger. He was fearless too; he would run outside when the winds would briefly calm to do his business and save his favorite pinecone. Now he hates storms of any kinds and will either hide under the coffee table or tremble in my dad's lap.

    lol thank you, i think its probably cos we tired her out playing with her all afternoon and evening by trying to destract ourselfs (the storm started about 11am weds and went through til 8am thursday). Unfortunatly the worst part was through the night sadface. It would have been a bit better through the day i think lol

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