Cyclone Larry And Other Hurricane Experiences

[Downward Spiral]

Last year, Far North Queensland went through a cyclone that was as strong as Cyclone Tracy and nearly as strong as Katrina and cost over 1 Billion dollars damage to the area. This left many people without rooves and some homes, power and left everyone feeling low (except for myself for a bit as I got the week of school off.) The house was shaking and many people around the region lost crops and millions worth of them as well. And THIS was just in the region that was hit with the edge of Cyclone Larry. Innisfail was completely destroyed by one of the worst Category 5 (the strongest there is) cyclones in Australian history and was terrible times for people up here. Many there had to queue up just to eat and many people were without proper homes and unlike Katrina, the country helped out.

Up in the north east of Australia, we experience many cyclones because of the climate we live in. Many people are ignorant of the damage that they do to the region, and this affected a lot more people than you would think. I was one of the people who got off easy, but we lost a lot as well. Across the road, I watched as two giant pine trees were ripped from the ground as the window in the bathroom was blown open and the power cut off. The rain and wind was incessant and unbelievably powerful. Many tables were upturned and some of the worst moments were driving through the town afterwards and seeing the rooves and trees laying all over the ground. This again, was up in a region that wasn't hit with the full brunt, and nothing could compare to the distressing images that we saw of that small town of Innisfail. Not many expected it, which made the rush to clean up even more frantic than normal. It hurt the region, no doubt and left many homeless and many distressed. Country life in Australia is a lot harder than most City people think. This is just an example and is completely true. I experienced it, and really couldn't imagine it now. It is scary to see what happens just kilometres away from where I live and I feel for anyone in Innisfail or New Orleans. Right now, there is 2 new cyclones building up to hit the region, and many are frightened. None more so than the recovering townspeople of Innisfail, who reluctantly heard that it was headed their way, before Cyclone Nelson died down. I couldn't imagine the disaster another one as big as Larry would do.

That was my experience, share your hurricane/cyclone experiences.

 

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Here is our deck in the cyclone.



This is early into it


A toppled tree that took a while to clean up. Practically that whole area was wrecked and in that same spot, we are building a pool right now. We never planted another tree there. We were scared it was going to fall on someones house.




My neighbours mess after Larry.

 

[Abyss]

Thats nasty, anybody seriously injured/killed that you know of?

 

[Downward Spiral]

Thank God it didn't go as far as many deaths, except for one indirect fatality from the cyclone. The region was quick acting but a few people were injured, and pets were left for dead in Innisfail.

 

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Here is some more pics. This is just after we cleaned up most of the mess and were getting the tree down.



This shows the state of my neighbours two pine trees. They had been there for years and gave their house a lot of privacy and now they are gone.



Here shows the pile of leaves that we picked up just a few hours after the cyclone.



The state of my neighbours front lawn a day after the cyclone.

 

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And some more: By the way, I just remembered that the trampoline slammed into our shed door because I had put it on its side close to it. There is a picture but it is blurry and lopsided.
The roots of our tree pulled completely out.



Here is a video of where it hit Cairns and yet still wasn't as strong as up where I was, and THAT wasn't nearly as strong as where it hit Innisfail at up to 300 kilometres per hour winds plus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9LHT7RRp-8

Here is a picture of Innisfail after it hit.


And another Innisfail one.


Here is one of the crops that went down after it.

 

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Here is one of the main street in Innisfail I think.

 

[Abyss]

Thats sad, we are lucky in the UK to not have to suffer these disasters.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Thats sad, we are lucky in the UK to not have to suffer these disasters.

What are you on about Abyss? Have you not seen the snow? I could'nt go out last night because of it. It must be like an inch deep.

 

[Abyss]

I meant cyclones

 

[twistoffate]

Before I went off to college my family lives in West Palm Florida, we got hurricanes Frances, Gene, Wilma Charlie, some of Katrina. damage was quite bad. lol.. nothing to extensive though, we just had to re-landscape and have our screen enclosure repaired.

 

[Abyss]

Hurricanes only happen over the sea luckily, imagine the devastation if it happened over land with that velocity and power.

 

[Downward Spiral]

There was an interesting article in the Cairns Post regarding how people are still recovering in Innisfail, as the one year mark since Larry was coming up. It was about a single mother with 6 kids and a newborn baby who were all sharing a caravan together, with only a generator as an energy source, and they all had to sleep in bunkbeds and they described it as hell. I am thankful that I never had to go through what some of them had to do and it is sad to think that these people are still feeling the repercussions of Cyclone Larry.