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Forum Index : Site News : Cyclone threat to TheBackShed
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5019 |
OK, there is a tropical cyclone in the area. 
http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDQ65002.shtml If the cyclone continues on its predicted path, I'll be taking a few steps to safeguard the web site and forums. The forums will be locked down Friday night or Saturday local time (GMT+10), and I'll be making a couple of extra backups on top of the normal scheduled backups. As soon as the threat has passed I'll bring the forums back online. If the cyclone does hit within 100km or so, chances are the power will be out for a few days/weeks, and of course this means the web site could be down for some time. Either way, the web site will be back up as soon as possible. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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sPuDd Senior Member  Joined: 10/07/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 251 |
Having been through cyclone Larry in Atherton, all I can say is Bunker Down Gizmo 
Oh, and the lesson I learned was: It's a hot shower that seperates man from beast.... That was what I most missed for a week without power. sPuDd.. It should work ...in theory |
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Bryan1 Guru  Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1210 |
Just remember to fill ya bath with beer and ice, if the power goes out one can keep the food fresh on the ice and when the beer runs out there's plenty of fresh water to drink. Back in good ol' days in the pilbara we used to hold cyclone parties and the joint thought was well if a cat 5 cyclone is going to wipe us out whynot be drunk... |
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| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5019 |
Here are are couple of screen shots I took just before the power went off at 2am. First, the current location and predicted path at 1am. The weather bureau got it pretty spot on with their predictions a couple of days earlier. Cat 3 when it hit the coast. My place is just to the south west of Mackay. 
This is the Mackay rain radar at 2am. Rain was heavy at times, I think there was about 200 to 300mm in my area. The eye was crossing the coast at Airlie Beach. 
Soon after the power went out and it all went to hell. After crossing the coast the cyclone headed south west for a bit, so things started getting pretty intense. Lots of noise, you cant believe how loud these storms are. Rumbles and bangs as things hit the building. Its like being in a violent storm cell for several hours. Yes, I was scared. Anyone who says they wern't scared is telling a lie. Started to ease off about 5am, sun up at 5:30, enough to poke my head outside for a look. Still windy, had to hold onto the outside railing. Very weird feeling. 7am it started to calm down and I could go for a walk. 10am perfectly calm. I had no structual damage, but lost a lot of trees. Big ones, snapped off at head height. I'll post some photos in the next few days. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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vasi Guru Joined: 23/03/2007 Location: RomaniaPosts: 1697 |
Wow! Glad to hear no damages. Can't wait to see photos. I can say I have seen some damages in the area on internet from an australian television, building damages and a lot of trees. Vasi Hobbit name: Togo Toadfoot of Frogmorton Elvish name: Mablung Miriel Beyound Arduino Lang |
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Trev Guru Joined: 15/07/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 639 |
Good one Glenn. I am glad you have no structural damage. We too have survived the cyclone. The maps posted above show we were just on the edge of the bright red centre. For those who don't know, I live just south west of Seaforth, 9km north of Kuttabul. We had no structural damage either. Plenty of vegetation, trees etc damage. Some falling on cow fences, so had to deal with that quickly to keep the cows in. One of my roller doors blew in on the shed, but did not bend it. No solar panels blown off or any damage to them. Even our satelite internet dish stayed on the roof, and still works! I did take down my 2 White Pointer's, so they are safe. One was back up the next day and providing me some power. The other one I want to modify parts of it. Our grid power is still out. We are just running on the wind and solar with a few hrs of generator for cooking and the like that require more power than my 1800W inverter will deliver. I should have a 48v 7000W inverter here tommorow. Then I won't need the generator. I read "hot shower" somewhere. Yes I miss it. The 2KVA genny won't run my hot water system. After tommorow, I will have hot water again. I agree the noise is horendous. The wind is fierce. I wouldn't say I was scared, but I was a little nervous. As a child I have been through some very voilent storms out west, Moree. One storm lifted a very large shed clean out of the ground, footings and all, and moved it about 200m down the paddock, all bent and twisted. A neighbors house almost went flat. It had a very distinct lean to it. The glass windows in our place there, flexed several inches, (50+mm). Here in this cyclone, I went outside a few times to shine a spot light around to see how things were going. 1.30am was the last time. I was too tired and ended up falling asleep on the lounge room floor. I think we faired quite good. We are on the western and northern side of a small ridge. We had very strong wind from the south east. I think the ridge pushed the wind up a little providing a small pocket around our house. This is not to say we didn't have very fierce wind, we did. It was just much stronger at about 3m up off the ground. By morning we had strong wind from the north, which is across the open cow paddock. Our generator is used by a number of neighbours, a few hrs each, just to keep their fridges cold. Marcy uses the EV Hilux to cart it around the neigbourhood, while I drive the Laser (petrol) to work. Pretty bad hey, just 4 days and I had to fuel up, man that sucks, over $50. I hadn't been to a petrol station in such a long time, it felt kind of starnge. Sorry, I have no pictures. I didn't have time for that. Trev @ drivebynature.com |
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| VK4AYQ Guru Joined: 02/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2539 |
HI glen You finally got the wind but more than you wanted with a lot of trees down you should get a better shot at catching a breath of wind now. Great work to keep the site opperational. It just shows how we should be more prepared for these events as if we have full preperation that should stop disarsters Murphys LAW Foolin Around |
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