Back To Business As Usual
Many of you are probably unaware that John and I spent the last weekend in fear of losing our home due to the biggest cyclone threat Queensland has ever seen. I can tell you honestly that this threat has certainly opened our eyes in regards to what is REALLY important in terms of personal belongings.
All state residents were advised to prepare for the worst and from north to south thousands of residents and holiday makers were evacuated from islands. The cyclone tracked itself from up north all the way down south (or nearly) and interestingly enough he (Hamish) stayed around 250km offshore throughout.
Therefore most townships along the shores were spared from the wrath of up to 295km/hour winds (within the eye), horrible floods and tremendous loss of life.
If that cyclone were to make landfall it could have easily wrecked any place. It started out as a category 4, then got upgraded to a 5 and now he has been downgraded to a category 3. It is expected that Hamish will only survive for another couple of days.
So we frantically readied our property and garden against howling wind damage (there is only so much one can do anyway) and packed our essentials in the event we had to flee by car or bunk down in the bathroom or bedroom (strongest rooms in the house). Thankfully it never eventuated and we are both thanking our lucky stars.
We ended up with 4 boxes of stuff which contained:
- Tinned food for 3 days, tin opener.
- 50 liters of water both for drinking and the toilet (in case of plumbing issues).
- 1 box of clothes for the both of us, lasting 1 week.
- Personal toiletries.
- Toilet paper (can’t go without that).
- Laptop computers, backup hard drives, mobile phones, USB modem and other little things such as camera and power adapters for all.
- Passports, drivers license and wallet.
- Battery powered radio, torches, candles, matches.
- Our birds “packed” into the “smaller” travel cage that fits into the back of the car.
- Spare bird seed, newspaper and towels, plus water containers.
If the need arose we could have left the house in 10 minutes flat with everything we wanted and really needed for survival at the ready. I’m afraid to say that the things we tend to treasure most in life (like our CD collection, TV, souvenirs and what not) becomes unimportant when an emergency is so imminent.
But mementos that can’t be replaced like photos (which we mainly keep on our computers) and essential documents are much more important besides the life of our pets and ourselves.
One thing we learned from this little exercise is to always be ready now, no matter whether there is a cyclone threat or not.
Monika
About the Author: I'm a passionate freelance writer and problogger. To further build my business I'm also in the process of building my own niche empire which pays me residual income.
lissie | Mar 10, 2009 | Reply
I wondered about you- its unusual for cyclones to get so far south I think! BTW get a travel adaptor so you can plug in a normal plug into your car’s cigarette lighter – great for charging laptops and batteries! Personally I’d skip some of the clothing to make sure the Esky came full of ice cold beer and chocolate – important I think !
ebele | Mar 10, 2009 | Reply
So glad you and hubby are OK, hun.
Hugs…
Tumblemoose | Mar 10, 2009 | Reply
Wow,
I’m glad to hear that you folks are ok. My goodness but it’s been an adventuresome year.
George
Monika | Mar 10, 2009 | Reply
@ Lissie: LOL, only an Aussie would mention the beer. Hahaha….maybe we just have to factor in a stop over at every available drive-in bottle’o. Thanks for the travel adapter tip. I was also looking at the solarmonkey which allows me to charge the laptop with solar power but it is very expensive and I’m not sure how good they really are. Do you know about them? They are an American product.
Monika | Mar 10, 2009 | Reply
@ Ebele: We are indeed. It was a close call but thank goodness it was nothing more serious. Hey, I was actually just thinking about you last night. Yeah, some dream about their loves and I was thinking about my mate ebele in cold London. Hope you are all well hon.
Monika | Mar 10, 2009 | Reply
@ George: Yes it certainly has been a year of adventure and events. Thank you for caring. It means a lot.
lissie | Mar 10, 2009 | Reply
I’m yet to find or see a solar panel which actually works on something useful – like the laptop or the beer fridge! I’ve seen the odd caravan setup with quite a large panel – not practical unless you are towing. Its amazing that the technology doesn’t really seem to be here yet!
Here’s the pic of my travel adaptor: http://travelover30s.today.com/2009/01/08/how-to-charge-a-notebook-when-travelling/
You don’t expect the bottle shop to have any cold beer left in an emergency do you – get real! LOL
Kathy | Virtual Impax | Mar 11, 2009 | Reply
Monika,
I’m glad to hear you’re ok.
As a resident of southeastern Florida, I can relate!!! Let’s just say it’s been 17 months since the last hurricane hit and last week was the FIRST time I’ve purchased batteries in almost 2 years.
It’s a truly terrifying experience. (You can choose whether I’m talking about the storm’s potential damage or the impending lack of beer, chocolate and internet! )
Vered - MomGrind | Mar 11, 2009 | Reply
I’m so glad you’re OK.
Emergency preparedness is always important.
Brett Legree | Mar 11, 2009 | Reply
Holy cow! I saw that on the news and wondered about you guys… glad to hear everything is okay.
We do that in winter, for different reasons – though we wouldn’t have catastrophic weather systems like that, the potential always exists for service outages when it is really cold (back in 2003, we lost electricity, water, and natural gas all at the same time, for two days – we almost “abandoned ship” as we could see our breath in the house…)
I still keep as much as I can in a “grab bag” or within easy reach of the grab bag, most times – in case of a fire or something.
Anyway – I’m raising a pint to the both of you (and the birdies!)
scott | Mar 11, 2009 | Reply
So glad that you survived the ordeal in tact. Interesting comments because I grew up in Florida were we endured hurricanes that accomplish the same devastation in our hemisphere.
Glad your ok!
Trent Brownrigg | Mar 11, 2009 | Reply
Wow! I’m glad you made it out of that one without incident.
Kelly@SHE-POWER | Mar 12, 2009 | Reply
Glad you’re all okay up there. Cyclones are scary stuff. Having lived in Mackay, North Qld, I’ve been in one myself. had a massive palm tree uproot and collapse on the roof of my bedroom. One of the scariest moments in my life.
It’s good to have clarity on what’s really important in life, but that said, I hope your property hasn’t sustained any damage.
Take care, and may the sun shine soon.
Kelly@SHE-POWER
Monika | Mar 13, 2009 | Reply
@ Kelly: Dear that sounds bad what you went through. We never had that much of an issue since the cyclone went by and the only thing we experienced is fright in anticipation and some hefty wind. Oh yeah and some rain. Thanks for caring though.
We are fine.
Monika | Mar 13, 2009 | Reply
@ Trent: No worries nothing bad “happened”. It went by out at sea and yes we were very lucky it did. The story could have had a bad ending otherwise. Hope you are well.
Monika | Mar 13, 2009 | Reply
@ Scott: Thanks for the thoughtful comment. Yes, Florida is very similar to Queensland actually, same type of weather and humidity too. That is why I loved Florida and Mojito’s are my favorite drinks by far.
Monika | Mar 13, 2009 | Reply
@ Kathy: Sounds like you live in one of the top spots in the US. Do you live in the actual Keys?
Monika | Mar 13, 2009 | Reply
@ Vered: Yes it certainly helps to be prepared just in case. It gave us peace of mind in some ways knowing we could bolt at short notice.