Tropical Cyclone Alfred

 Today has been getting rather windy. 

The BOM is saying that currently Alfred is a Category 2 cyclone (was supposed to only be a Cat 1 at this point in its development). At some point tonight it will pull away from the coastline, towards New Zealand, before pulling back into the Queensland coast, and heading straight for the coast at high speed and at least Category 2, although they are now saying it could actually hit us at Category 3, which is really not good at all.

The cyclone in January that hit Townsville and surrounds was a Category 3, and it wiped them out. Flooded everywhere, power outages, people died, houses wiped out (and their houses are built to withstand cyclones). A Category 2 is bad enough, but a 3?

I have spent the better part of today working in the gardens, pulling down greenhouses, and securing garden furniture, working out where my farm animals will go to keep them safe, along with my dogs and cats.  

Tomorrow I am going out to get food supplies for the animals to last at least a week, as it's unlikely anything will be open come Thursday. Add to that, my street floods at the smallest amount of rain, and we still tend to lose power here for days, if not weeks, on end when there's a bad storm, so who knows how bad it will get with a cyclone.

We aren't used to them down here, and it feels truly odd having to prepare my little farm for just such an occurrence! 

It is Autumn here now, but it's still Summer temps of low 30s, making the days sticky and hot, even despite the oncoming cyclone. 

Because the alternative is to be very very scared, I am looking at all of this as a chance to renovate my garden and fix the things that haven't worked, plus get a lot of stuff sorted around the house and in the sheds, and fix some fences after the cyclone has gone. To start from scratch again, somewhat.

I'm not looking forward to being flooded in, with no power though. Especially as I do not drive.

Thursday, maybe Friday, and the cyclone will be here. Wednesday is when they say the rain will be heaviest and when we are likely to start being flooded. Thursday they think the power will probably go out, although that could also start happening on Wednesday. If it hits Brisbane itself, Brisbane will probably shut down completely for a few days. The BOM is saying if it hits north of Brisbane, the people living south of the point of impact will get worse weather than the people at the centre of the cyclone. All of it is scary. 

I have a rechargeable radio now at least, and will be sorting out some way to charge my mobile tomorrow, assuming my mobile carrier doesn't go down when the power goes out (they usually do). 

How on earth do the people of Townsville in Far North Queensland cope with multiple cyclones per year???

I will try to update each day for as long as I am able. No guarantees though!