Yasi the home wrecker

I'm still trying to get my head round this. And I wasn't even IN it.

Paradise lost. This was all rainforest.

This is my sister Ks' house.

Looking up under the eaves and you can see how much the house moved. It'll have to be knocked down.

The house over the road lost roof tiles, which smashed into my sisters' house, and caused all the damage.

See the hole in the wall? And smashed louvres? That's where roof tiles punched clean through, letting 280 kmph winds into the house.

Sheeting started blowing off the inner walls.

Can you see the flecks of shredded leaves on the kitchen walls? But note that the light-bulb is still in one piece. I reckon they should take that light-bulb with them everywhere they go, it's clearly pretty special.

Honest to God, my sisters' kitchen doesn't normally look like this. You could eat off her floors any other time.

My other sister, Mrs Practical, took down her truck with a generator, fuel, a gas bottle, food etc, as soon as she was able. She took home my mum, and loads and loads of wet washing. Because of course, all the sheets, towels, bedding and clothing were dripping wet with storm water, and no power to wash them and no sun (or clothes-line) to dry them.

K is OK. If they had been sleeping in their bed, her husband would have most likely been killed by those tiles punching through their bedroom wall, but they were instead huddled in the downstairs bathroom, for the 10 hours or so it took Yasi to pass.

I can't tell you how much this breaks my heart. I might live in WA now, but North Queensland is still home. I sob my heart out for hours on the plane everytime I have to leave. And something in me wants to be there now, helping to clean up and re-build.