0006 Queensland January Cyclone - Updated 2.2.13

WELL !!  I never expected to write about a cyclone in my blog, but probably easiest way to get the photos and news to you !!  After all the record heat and humidity of the past couple of weeks, Cyclone Oswald swept down the coast of Queensland this week, causing chaos as it came south. Although now downgraded to "just" a tropical storm, it is still bringing high winds and lots of rain. 

Gladstone and Bundaberg seem to have copped the worst of it, with severe flooding (highest ever on record in Bundaberg - Hope the rum factory wasn't flooded !!) and even tornadoes causing havoc.  The storm eventually got to us down south of Brisbane on Saturday.  We had a dinner party on Friday night and it was starting to blow and rain a bit, but nothing too bad.  Saturday it was still raining, again nothing that bad, but by Sunday morning it was blowing and raining in earnest, and all day Sunday it just blew and rained non-stop.  The worst came in between 6 and 8 pm Sunday evening, and we spent the day keeping the pool and fish pond levels down - The fish can almost walk out of their pond !!

Some decorative plates hanging on the wall out by the fish pond came down, with one broken, while a vase of flowers on a table indoors got blown over when the wind blew in a door we had open for some fresh air. But generally speaking we have been pretty protected by the neighbour's 2 story house on our east side.  Normally our prevailing winds come out of the south - but not this time - They are coming off the ocean.

We are OK though. Up to 500 mm ( 20 inches) of rain have fallen in some areas to the north - We have "only" had about 150 mm here, although the high winds have apparently created a bit of havoc in downtown Surfers Paradise as they funnelled between all the high rises, with balcony furnture in some cases turning into missiles !   As was the case 2 years ago, we are not located on the Brisbane or other rivers which flood when rain falls in their catchment areas upstream, so we do not get too severely affected by flooding.  Our canal is purely tidal, and the high levels you can see there, with my kayak floating, are just because we are also having very high tides at the moment.  This of course increases the flooding elsewhere because it restricts the swollen rivers from dumping into the sea.

Now Monday morning, the wind and rain are continuing, albeit at a reduced level, as the storm moves south to NSW.   Ironically, Victoria is still having heat problems, with bush fires still raging down there, and not a drop of rain in sight !!  Lets hope this storm doesn't peter out before it reaches them as they need the rain more than we do right now !

More news and pics later if anything more develops, but for the moment we are surving here in Benowa, unlike many other poor souls further north.

9.30 am Monday and it stopped raining for 5 minutes, so I quickly took Trooper for a walk round the block - His first for 2 days apart from a few quick "trips" into the garden !    And to say he was "relieved" would be an understatement !!!!!!  ROFL.

Some pics here https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0006QueenslandJanuaryCyclone?authkey=Gv1sRgCI-Z2JaE2dGlPQ#

10 am.  Just seen on the news that there is quite a lot of devastation in the surrounding area - Rooves ripped off, trees down, and flooding just behind us, in Nerang (look at map in Pics section to see how close Nerang is.)   They say the Nerang River is now flooding because of the high tide preventing the water from escaping, and there is another hour or two to go until we reach high tide !  I have just taken another pic of my kayak at the bottom of the garden, taken 2 hours after the photo before, and you can ee the tide is still coming in !   Wooooooooo !   Should we run for the hills ?   I will post some more pics later...................
And look at the pic of neighbour Jamie's little blue dinghy floating, even though it is tied ON TOP of his jetty, which is normally a couple of feet above high tide levels !

11 am   New photo of the water in the garden added - But I think it is about high tide now, so it shouldn't come any higher.  Will see what it looks like at noon.

Now 12.30, and the tide is starting to go out, so that should relieve the pressure upstream for a while.  But the rain is heavier than ever !!!

Now nearly 2 pm, and the tide just isn't going out !  We should be OK here, but several loal rivers have burst their banks, and as more water flows down from the catchment areas, it is going to cause some pretty bad flooding for people living in low lying areas.  Not good, and flood peaks are expected this evening and again tomorrow (Tuesday) morning.

Tuesday Morning update
Woke up this morning to blue skies and only light wind - At last.  The sun actually came out yesterday afternoon, and I managed to take Troop for a walk for an hour or so, but then the rain came back in with a vengeance and from most of last night it bucketed down, harder than it had all day (See 4 new potos at the end, here https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0006QueenslandJanuaryCyclone?authkey=Gv1sRgCI-Z2JaE2dGlPQ# .  There are a lot of areas which are underwater from their rivers flooding, with places further up the coast like Gladstone and Rockhampton being the worst.  We have got off quite lightly again.

Went for a kayak on the canal this morning - Lots of rubbish in the water, and the tide remains very high as the sheer volumes of water coming off the land and flowing into the waterways just don't allow the levels to drop much.  I was able to climb into my kayak in the garden this morning, and then paddle out of the gate and into the canal !!!

2.2.13   Although we are still getting some storms (normal for this time of year now  after all, this is our wet season), the water in the canals is starting to go down a little more each day.  Snapped a coule of photos at the end of the album showing the high tide mark on the garden wall, and all the debris left behind that now I have to clean up !