Cyclone in Brisbane

Some of you might have heard about the CRAZY storm in Brisbane last weekend.
Last Sunday (16 Nov) we were enjoying the 30C heat and sun and sat in the garden, too hot to do anything... very relaxing and then suddenly at 4.30 the sky turned black and a massive storm attacked a selected number of suburbs, including ours! GREAT!
I was totally terrified! Hail the size of golf balls, enormous winds from all directions and of course torrential rain flooding the streets in seconds! AMAZING!!! We have a huge gumtree (about 50m high) in the back of our yard so we hid in the furthest away room hoping for the best! Thunder was deafening and the lighting lit up the black black sky, really scary!
Then an almighty BANG and a big tree branch went through our roof and into the kitchen! Totally shocking.



We are safe, thankfully and damage is limited. Craig (always in calm control) immediately got on the phone to State Emergency Control and we ended up on top of their waiting list. The guys came out about an hour after the storm and climbed on the roof, sawed the tree in pieces and put a big orange tarp over the hole.



Now we are safe and dry again and hopefully the ceiling will dry out in a couple of weeks. It continued to rain like crazy all week but our house thankfully did not get flooded. We were without electricity for about 10 hrs which is much better than many others. The damage to the power lines is substantial, traffic is a nightmare, a lot of the tunnels are flooded, school are closed etc. Incredible.

We were lucky and very grateful that the big tree did not snap off like many others. Some people have lost absolutely everything. Thankfully we are well and all the other Millis Clan members are safe and well also. Very lucky.

Have a look at the link for some pictures of the drama:

BRISBANE has been officially declared a natural disaster area, as soldiers help to repair damage caused by one of the biggest storms to hit the city in 20 years. More than 32,000 properties across Brisbane, Redcliffe and the Gold Coast were without power this afternoon after yesterday's storm brought hail and wind gusts of up to 130km/h, ripped roofs from houses and toppled power lines and trees.

This is a photo that made all the front pages - storm gathering over the CBD.