heartharmony.com.au

I live in Brisbane and on Sunday night we were hit by an absolutely massive storm. The main area hit was the Gap and my home is located right near it – in the Ferny Hills/Arana Hills area. I hear we had 89mm of rain in 30 mins.

The storm was terrifying to live through. The needle like rain and hail the size of golfballs coming in at 90degree angles hitting our windows and car at 130km/h. Our front door was blown in with the force, and our ceiling access covers blown out of their sockets. Every towel and blanket in our house was used to stop the water coming in through out lounge-room and office window frames and to mop up the front door area.

We had a river of mud that want ankle deep raging down our back entertainment area and straight into our neighbours yard. I had to keep racing out in the storm to clear the stormwater drains otherwise the damage would have been worse.

We were the lucky ones in the street – our losses were limited to a fence, slight water damage, about 1/3 of all of our Xmas lights (we enter the competitions each year) and lot of our trees.  As I removed all of the branches from my car I was amazed to see not one scratch or dent. Miracles do happen.

All other houses in our street lost retaining walls, roofs, porches or had major water damage. We spotted trampolines blown into the middle of the street and houses which were now just matchsticks.

After the worst of the storm was over it was great to see the street emerge – people who had never spoken to each other pitched in and helped each other. Elderly neighbours were checked on and supported. Houses where the owners were away were covered in tarps, and their animals rescued. We became an informal animal rescue station with our house full of wet, smelly and scared animals – cats in one area of the house and dogs in another until it was safe for them to return home.

Yesterday was a day of very hard work – digging out the mud, repairing fences, retrieving things that had ended up many houses away, cutting trees and dragging them to the front. I was proud of my kids and all of the work they did – they didn’t complain once, just pitched in and helped. I was also proud of my elderly father who also pitched in and helped us repair our doors, fence and gutters. It was truly inspiring to see things come together over the day.

We finally got power back at 11.30pm last night, over 36 tiring hours after the storm. I woke my girls up and we did a little dance of joy … before racing down to put the first of many loads of washing on.

Our massive thanks to the SES and electricity workers who have worked tirelessly around the clock to remove trees and corrugated iron from power lines. They are true angels!

Thanks also to my brilliant friends who popped in during the day for moral support, to recharge my mobile phone and give hugs.  We also had many offers of showers (yes, we all smelt after the work and mud), hot food and a bed. The support was appreciated.

Today (or tomorrow) is a day to revisit all our business emergency plans – to work out what worked and what didn’t, and put new procedures in place.

For all of my clients, I will be off the air for another 48 hours just finishing off repairs, taking things to the tip and helping out the neighbours.

With much love and gratitude

Ingrid Cliff

Heart Harmony