We survived the STORM, it was like a war zone.

Hello,

Wow, how our lives changed in a few moments yesterday. We had been on cyclone watch or rather the whole state had been. The weather forecast was for Cyclone Bianca to hit further down south today.
Just after getting up from a nap yesterday afternoon I was reading the paper and Ian said we had better check to see what was happening. We looked up the BOM weather site. It was just before 3.00pm. We both saw that the rain was coming .We both said at the same time "It's Here" I then looked outside and quickly ran to grab the camera. Ian went up to the shed to shut the door and to put the pool cover on the pool. He only had just enough time to do that.




Ian walking up to the shed.

 The dust came in so quickly all these photo's I took were only a few seconds apart. If you were out shopping etc you would have been stuck.








Looking across to the neighbours across the road.



This is the view to the neighbours house above a few seconds after.

It was coming at such a fast pace, it really was unbelievable.

Dust was everywhere. There was just dust and noise for the first few minutes then the wind hit. Unbelievable, is the only way I can describe it.

Within a few minutes it was black for quite some time. I took this photo just before that looking out the front window. Remember this is three in the afternoon. I quickly realised we needed some light so managed to find my way to the pantry cupboard for the torch. By this time the power had gone of and we just had to hide inside. At one time I stayed in the passage way. It was the safest place. Luckily the winds came from our bedroom end of the home if they had come from the front I don't know what the story would be. Winds over 100km per hour raged for over an hour. I watched our neighbours trees just fly out of the ground and big branches fall of gum trees. We only had about 12mls of rain which was lucky. Our pipes to the tank just out the back blew of so we didn't collect any rain there.

After it finished there was an eerie quite then sirens started. We ventured outside to see what the damage was. Our back gate that we walk through that you can see in the top photo has had its hinges broken,completely blown off. We ventured up to the chook yard to find the door blown in,luckily our three new chickens were still inside. A neighbours gum tree had fallen on the chook yard and pulled away some of the wire. Luckily it completely missed there fence and our fruit trees. One little plum tree that was only planted two years ago if that was tucked between the branches. One of our fence posts completely snapped at the base and we lost a Wattle tree on the verge and in the front yard. We also lost a bush that I was hoping would go, so was happy about that.

All in all we were extremely lucky. I guess that is the good thing about loving roses,they were OK. After checking on neighbours who had also come out and having a chat with them we then went to check on my Mum's home. She had rang us to say she wasn't home but the neighbour had called her to say her house was OK. We went and checked, there were so many trees damaged and big huge ones in the back yard that were completely blown out. One had fallen on the neighbours fence and he was already there with the chainsaw. Another neighbour came to help and while I was cleaning up the lady across the road came to see if Mum was OK.
The house on the corner near Mum's with the hedge had its roof completely taken of and a chimney was gone. I don't know if they will rebuild. There home is currently for sale. I guess you would now call if a renovator's delight. It had ropes holding it together yesterday. I haven't seen it today. I guess it probably will be demolished because the rain would have wrecked the ceilings if they held up at all. I reckon they would have been terrified.

The house that is being built across the road from us in the paddock is gone. The roof and other parts are strewn across the paddock. You can see a photo of it here. The owners came this morning and I watched them. They never even got out of there vehicle. It was a Queenslander style home on stilts. We used to worry about the home because it was out in the paddock surrounded by crop . We worried about it being at risk if a fire came through.

After we left Mum's we went for a quick drive around but decided it was way safer at home. There were power lines down everywhere and trees uprooted. We saw homes with the roller doors on the garage completely blown in. Chainsaws were in action straight away and not long after the television stations from Perth were hovering above in there helicopters. Unfortunately we didn't get to watch it because our power was only restored this morning.We spent the morning putting tree branches out onto the verge for the shire workers to collect.It has been described like being in a war zone. Something that I hope we don't ever ever go through again.

Back soon
Bev C