thank you Twitter

First -- an update on the family.

My sister and mum in Mission Beach are OK. The house was badly damaged - tiles from a neighbours' roof damaged their cars and also took out windows, which let the wind into the house. The winds were so strong they tore sheeting off the inner walls, blew out the sliding doors and windows, and destroyed one outer wall to the house, so it's open to the elements now and there's a lot of damage to furniture etc. BUT they are alive and unhurt.
The rainforest they lived in is gone. Many other homes were destroyed around them.

All other family members are fine, with no damage to property although some trees are down around them and of course, they have no power, phone or internet.

*****

As you might imagine, I've been glued to my computer (mainly Twitter and Facebook) and ABC24 over the last 2 days.
(in fact I've been so involved in the cyclone that I was constantly surprised when I went outside my own home to blue skies and sunshine!)

It's hugely worrying to be so far away and not knowing what is happening to your family, and one of the big benefits of social media is that people were streaming webcams and posting updates constantly, from all around the affected area of Queensland. There were lots of good wishes and prayers being sent, lots of support, people volunteering information for worried rellies etc. Good to see.

I have seen complaints, however. Some jerks were complaining that the cyclone wasn't as exciting as they had hoped it would be. Yes, seriously!
And a lot of others complaining about the media overkill.

Well, from my point of view, I couldn't see or hear ENOUGH information. I knew I wouldn't be able to contact my sisters or mum for ages, and all I had was the media updates.

So I don't care if you thought the coverage was OTT, or boring.

I don't care if you don't like Kochie and think the reporters are vultures hovering around looking for corpses.
I don't care if you thought the Qld Gvt overstated the seriousness of this cyclone.
I don't care and neither do the rest of all those Australians who had loved ones in danger last night.

And when the pictures and stories start appearing, I hope you feel ashamed of your shallowness.

updates from the Book (updated!)

These are from Facebook yesterday and last night. My family and friends are getting ready for a belting from Yasi.

from my brother M:
* Generator's had a run, Got bread, milk and coffee, Filled the gas bottle, everything is tied down, Trigger (the Wonder Dog) is holding the couch down. We're ready!!
* me - Is trigger still keeping that couch safe?
M - No.. He must reckon the lino in front of the fan is more likely to go :)
me - LMAO! Good boy Trigger. Don't forget to lay on Grandad if he looks like floating away.

* M - Well the houses, both next door and across the road, Will be safe. They have been driving nails in for the last 3 days, and still hammering away!!
me - maybe they're building an ark. You should see if they have any spare room.
M - We will take the tinny. I'm not getting on an ark with two tiapans!!
Cousin J - At least they are using nails, not like my neighbours. Swampies is a termite nest and the other house is made out of the stuff for fridges. and there is not a nail or screw in it. It is just a big jigsaw puzzle. It will be interesting to see how it holds up.
me - You might end up with most of it on the patio, J.
J - well if i ever want to build a fridge i will have the bits all ready to go.

* M - Still atm. Like nothings happening.
me - How's Dad? puffing on those cigarettes I bet.
M - He's pretty cool for now. Been a bit ... funny... today, but I think he's just settled down to wait now. Done all we can.
me - I expect he's scared but doesn't want to say so. K said he's been nailing down everything in the yard.
(apparently Dad was driving nails into , or tying down everything in sight)
M - Just stabbed himself in the bum. Had a screwdriver in his pocket from tightning something up!!!!

* M - (this morning) Man... You should hear how many hammers are doing overtime this morning... its freaky!!!

* M - Well thats about 300 million nails in the house next door!!!!!!!!! Its getting bloody annoying!!

* sister K -- wonder how long the house next door will last?

M -- Forever. It's got 300 million new nails in it.

from my sister S:
* So, BOM tracking site looks like Yasi will hit mission beach and then straight over the top of Atherton. I'm off to get supplies, mainly coffee.

* i bought a lotto ticket as well. may as well

* You know someone should invent a battery operated kettle............

From my cousin J:
* J - no genny! :(
brother M - Start making ice for the esky while you have power!!!
me - good thinking
M - If you make a kite and tie a key to it, on a long piece of copper wire....
me - you try it first, and let us know how you get on.

I love these people. God, please let them all survive.

all kinds of bad

Looks like my mum and my sister & BIL, my other sister and BIL, my dad and my two brothers will all cop a direct hit from TC Yasi, in that order.
Mum and Baby Sister live right on the coast, so we don't know if they'll be evacuated yet. We hope so.
Middle Sister lives up on the Tablelands, and Dad and brothers live higher again. They all survived Larry without a scratch, but MS says it was the most terrifying thing she'd ever experienced. And Yasi is expected to be worse. They're calling it a life-threatening event.

For those of you who only saw photos of suburban damage, Larry left the countryside looking like a giant whipper-snipper had been through. Trees were taken out in gigantic swathes. They weren't merely knocked over; they looked as if they'd exploded.
There were no leaves to be seen on them, they'd been completely stripped. And the leaves themselves were shredded. Like confetti. Can you imagine the power of winds like that?

However, surviving the cyclone is not the end of it.
TC Tasha hit on Christmas Day, and they were all without fresh food supplies till after the Brisbane floods started to subside.
When I say "fresh food supplies" I don't mean they couldn't get lettuce. I mean, the supermarkets were not re-stocked because the roads were closed. From Christmas Day on.
There was no milk (even though it's a dairying region. Because the Qld Gvt decided years ago that it would be illegal to sell milk that hasn't been processed. Which is all done Down South. So dairy farmers were pouring their milk down the drain, while the shops had none.)
There was no bread. No meat. Some fruit and veg, whatever had survived the water anyway. No tinned goods. No nappies. No coffee.
NO COFFEE!
No power, or phone, no internet access for days. They relied on other people to txt them and let them know what was happening, or listened out on the radio for news.

I know that the loss of life in Sth Qld was beyond bad. No-one in NQ died in Tasha. There was no devastating flash flooding. But it was still bad, and largely ignored by the media. They aren't getting any money from the mud tax. Many of them will still be required to pay the tax.
It drives me mad that our politicians are so city-centric. They forget, a state doesn't end when you drive out of the city limits.

Anyway, I've spoken to one sister this morning, and have to ring my mum. Going to try and talk her into heading inland. I'd rather they lost their house than their lives.