05/03/2025
Advice from a friend in Townsville.
To all my friends in SE QLD and Brisbane... enjoy the gift of a cyclone that we in North QLD have sent you. May it bring you joy and happiness. 😂
We've lived through a few of these, and many of you haven't. If we were to share any advice, it would be this:
- Move or secure all your outside stuff nice and early. If you can lift it, so can a cyclone. Unfortunately, you can't control how well your neighbour does this, so be prepared to score a free trampoline or two.
- Stay inside. Even in the eye, if you're lucky enough to experience that. You may find the aforementioned trampolines falling out of the sky, you may stumble upon a downed power line, or you might find the wind starts back up within seconds with no warning and you're flying around like that cow in the movie Twister. Don't even go outside to fix stuff until it's safe. Stay inside. Stay inside. Stay inside.
- If you can't tie your bin down and it's empty, half fill it with water. If it's half full of rubbish, this would be a bad move cos it'll stink in a few days!
- If you have a roller door, consider backing cars up to it from both sides, possibly with an old mattress or blanket to protect them. Roller doors are one of the weakest links in your house structure... give it some reinforcement. They can be blown in or out.
- Your houses aren't built to the same wind ratings as ours. You do, however, get some wicked storms from time to time, so most of your houses have experienced fairly high winds, although not sustained for as long as you're possibly about to get. If you do lose part of your roof, move into the smallest room and shelter under a mattress or blanket. It won't last long. Don't forget your pets!
- Charge up your power banks so you can keep posting memes until it passes. This is very important.
- Your shops are probably out of bottled water, so fill up all those millions of water bottles you've got overflowing your Tupperware drawer just in case you lose water and power for a while. Have a few meals of stuff that doesn't need a fridge, just in case. We always laugh when the perishables disappear from the supermarket shelves... Don't forget your tin opener.
- Some people say to fill a bath up, although I usually don't bother (no jokes please, I do use a shower instead). It could be useful, though, if you lose water and want to flush your toilet. You can manually fill up the cistern using a bucket and then flush - it'll work just fine. Just be very careful if you have young kids for the obvious drowning risk. (The bath, not the cistern...)
- Personally, I wouldn't tape up your windows for a cat 2. You're better off letting it shatter and the shards blow away than having large panes of broken glass to deal with later. Besides, the tape sucks to get off later!
- It'll be loud! A cat 2 can sound like a jet engine right above your head for a few hours. It won't last forever, and it's just wind. Breathe, and think of the stories you can tell kids for the next 50 years. Pump the music if it bothers you!
- Use a small bit of rope or a cable tie to hold your fuse box lid shut. There should be a little hole in the middle of the bottom of the lid for this. These lids can fly open, come off, or just bang around in the wind, possibly out of time to the drumbeat of your music. Bad. Don't forget to take it off before your next meter reading!
- Toilet paper and wine! Haha, dunno about the toilet paper, I haven't seen any confirmed validated research about cyclones increasing the rate of toilet paper use. Most of us already have enough to see us through a few days.
- The stories about keeping windows on the opposite side to the wind open to equalise pressure... I personally think are stories. Houses have so many air leaks that your unlikely to cause a pressure issue. You're more likely to forget to shut it, or get caught with water and rain coming in.
- Cyclones are quick. The worst will be over in a few short hours, then it's over to recovery and waiting for the city to get back on its feet. Remember - more people die or are injured in the recovery AFTER a cyclone than during it. Be careful and sensible.
Finally... Stay safe. 🙏🙌
