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May 1, 2017

Lismore Floods: Ex-Tropical Cyclone Debbie

*image is from ABC

During March this year, and after gestating a little while, two cyclones formed off shore, Cyclone Caleb and Cyclone Debbie. First Caleb on the 23rd of March, just north over the Cocos Islands and then Debbie on the 25th March after blowing low and cold for several days in the Coral Sea. While Caleb blew itself out and the winds dropped down Debbie continued to increase in intensity, heading east from her original location but was then detected to have a potential trajectory path for North Queensland. By then Debbie had become a Cat 3 Cyclone and BOM had begun issuing warnings for North Queensland that they were no longer on Cyclone Watch (issued March 23rd) but were now instead on Emergency Alert. Debbie was definitely on her way to Australia's coastline with the power of a CAT 4 Cyclone to be expected.

*image is from Wetinhappen

I spent a few days following some of Townsville's community pages in the lead up to this, a bit in disbelief. We had been a bit spoilt at times and we had not been at the complete mercy of mother nature too often in Northern Rivers. I kept track when I could of the devastation, although a little removed from it all, thinking that everyone had been evacuated. Down south where we were the weather also hadn't been too bad. Natural disaster or not we had to continue work as usual, a little more removed I had been desensitised while also very much relieved that it had been much further north than any relatives and friends I had been aware of up that way. My friends and I had dinner plans for Thursday night. Wednesday night I spent playing with fire or laying on the grass, looking at the clear sky. I remember checking my phone when in between star gazing and fireballs. There was a severe weather warning for Thursday night. We had already postponed before. I don't mind a bit of rain. Still out of touch, I reluctantly advised the baby sitter and my friends that I agreed that 'tomorrow' wasn't really a good idea.

By Thursday morning 30th March, I had read a little more about the devastation experienced further north. Towns, areas, islands.... people and property had taken the full brunt of Cyclone Debbie. It had all been surreal... By now your probably thinking I didn't really give a fuck but I had been real busy and lets face it... if you know how I kick started 2017 you would probably already know that I have all kinds of nasty words for this year and how things had been going so far. 2017 is probably the first year I have ever called 'a cunt of a thing'. Seeing that I don't really use the word maybe you'll get what kind of mood I was in by the time we got to March. Even now the word has been adopted almost naturally and it's surprisingly on the increase. I'm aware of a few NY resolutions that I'm booking up at the moment.

next week' Anyways, I had just got my car back after not seeing it for two months and pretty much thinking I was always going to get it back 'every week. Burnt out, frazzled and also sporting some cold and flu germs, I wasn't ripe and ready for anything and I had just been taking it moment to moment by then. I had already taken leave on Thursday, supposedly resting, but all this commotion meant I didn't get to sleep and was yet again busy. Yet another loss and not my choice. I received a few sms and emails throughout the day letting me know I could pick the kids up early if I felt like it. Not happening. I did the Lismore thing and drove around with one of them and took pics of the water rising then agreed with my kids not to send them to school 'tomorrow'. People were moving cars, levee might go under. Evacuation order goes out. People are asking me where I'm staying tonight. I stare blankly then show my confusion. I'm going home. I went and spent a few hundred dollars on groceries just in case.

Then I get home. It looks like that not only had I forgot to lock the door but I had left it wide open. Rushed, I had wanted to get to the shops before NEVER and pick up the last of my kids. SES were door knocking the street but they had come and gone at our place already and were further along the street. I'm sure the wide open door had made it look like we had already left running into the night with the shit in our pants. I told my kids a thousand times we aren't going anywhere and I assured them it'll be cool and we had a butane burner ready to go. We could cook, we had torches, food and candles. It was all good. I looked at my home and for a fleeting moment and considered leaving. I suddenly loved being here and I wanted to be there, home, with my stuff. 'North and South always go under' I tell myself. 'They tell us to evacuate just in case.... and plus... Im in Girard's Hill. I don't know who this Girard person is that I keep hearing about but its not CBD.'

I unloaded the car. Im was in a rush. I just wanted to sit the fuck down. I wasted a whole rest day on this flood shit and I was thinking I was back at work tomorrow. Lights are on in my whole street and it looks like my neighbours aren't going anywhere. Across the road and two houses up, the silhouette of a man stands silently in the doorway as I rushed. The giant pack of toilet paper exploded because I was holding it in the wrong spot. Split in the middle about 4 rolls on each end are perfectly dry. Theres a number of them in the middle with rain splattered on them everything else is on the road. They weren't rolling as they were instantly waterlogged. Best absorbent tissue ever. I did what I normally do when I manage to be shocked and shitty at the same time. I stared in disbelief, then I cursed a little. This time I pick them all up, chucking the waterlogged ones out. What I really want to do is throw them all out and start screaming but then I remember that I love toilet paper and they have a place in my Floodageddon.

I got comfy, checked my social media, sms and emails for anything I had missed and noticed an email from the Real Estate about the evac orders. In a split second I decided to go and booked a motel in another town 30mins east, just in case I change my mind. Hearding the kids in the car with some changes of clothes and basic food we get out of there. I text everyone I told that I was staying that I have now evac'd and not to worry about us during the night. I cancel the babysitter for 11pm, which I had arranged so I could move the car out of zone. The house was locked properly this time.

After the kids finish fighting over what movie they are going to watch and fall asleep, I then too slept like a rock with the wind howling it's arse off outside.

While we slept, the cyclone formerly known as Debbie and is now known as Ex-Tropical Cyclone Debbie had already well made it's was down to Northern Rivers, only partially satisfied with the destruction from up north. Debbie arrives and caused some serious woe on multiple towns and areas, both suburban and rural with widespread devastation to the extent we were only then just beginning to come to know about. Even in just Lismore alone, the area of focus for this post, many were stranded away from or in their homes with waters still rising throughout the day. Lismore had been inundated.

I came to look the next day, after we left our motel to see if we could get home, hopeful of course but unrealistically. In streets nearby to our home we came close but not that close. Our hopes had been set quite high. We explored a little but were disappointed. Being lighthearted in our own distance from home I had enjoyed frolicking in a singlet and some short cut pyjama shorts, thinking minor of my own impacts that I had not seen. The first visit back provided me the first realisation I was homesick, even already and at that point I didn't care what I had lost. I simply wanted to go home and not much else mattered.

I'm sure theres enough information to be more detailed about the nature of these events and the personal impacts of myself, strangers to me or the entire community to write multiple books and entire websites. It is with foresight that for the remainder of the post I will be writing instead more of a summary of the highs and lows of the events that followed, otherwise this post will never end.

So here it is, my not so extensive list, not to deliberately exclude anything but this was HUGE.

*doesn't everyone have this picture?

Lismore Flood High's and Lows

Emotions

A little bit of mania. I became obsessed with travelling in my pyjamas. I was elated, heroic and adventurous to my children, dismissive of the losses, neutral in discussions with them and normalised and encouraged delight in emergency assistance such as showering in a strange place, having sleep overs at friends houses instead of motels and not returning to school. I of course also 'lost my shit' quite a few times. I chucked things out and then wanted them again. Not everything can and will be replaced. I was angry, tired, jealous, bored, annoyed and sad. This was of course bundled with some weird affinity I now felt with other flood victims and the volunteers who roamed the community. I felt pangs to hang out with them, dance in the street and say curse words while eating from a sausage sizzle. It saddened me that I couldn't be there. It sure would have cheered me up. I know I also fell in love with a cupcake I never ate, unsure if that day will ever come.

I hated getting out of bed and I still do. I was never a fan in the first place but the resentment I have for 6am is now deep and heavy set. The truth is that I lost my shit many times before I could even finish writing this post. Doing the things I want to do and need to do all seem inconvenient, challenging and take forever. Days fluctuate between sheer bliss and thankfulness and days were you can see the anger and frustration burning behind my eyes. I don't need someone to tell me how to feel, fix my feelings or tell me it's going to be alright. That false sense already sent a shock through me and added to me losing my shit so many times. I should be ok, right? Emotions calm again and I wonder about those who still haven't finished. I am ok. The imagery of the experience I would be having right now had the entire house been flooded gives me quiet moments with imaginary dread. Thinking of those other people and what they experienced is like realising a real life horror. I compare the feeling to watching gory scenes in a horror movie. The ability of it being to real is sickening. I'm still grateful I am where I am. I won't move and I think our house is perfect for us.

Personal Loss I'd been moping the last two month because of the 'car thing'. The 'car thing' had also been associated with a recent move. Many things did not fit in my storage shed and had been stored on site downstairs and had never brought upstairs. some of it was just sitting there as downstairs was being renovated. Collectables, vintage items, an additional kitchen set for the downstairs kitchen, shoes, toys, omg so many books, clothes, coffee tables, a chair, the most precious of documents as they belonged here and not the shed, stacks of photo albums in addition to all our outdoor stuff like furniture, lawn care gear, our karscher gurney, all the laundry stuff, bikes. All soaked and caked with slimy smelly mud. We are a high laundry household. We lost all those things that are normal that were suddenly then perceived as luxuries to me such as underpants, sheets, towels, fucking everything. If it can be washed on a machine or hung on a line- we lost it. I also lost it every time we needed these things and they were at my friends house getting washed or left with a stranger who was volunteering. I'm still waiting for the washing machine that was ordered brand new. I heard today it'll be delivered tomorrow.

Amazingly enough downstairs was being kept mostly empty at the time thanks to renovations. There's two bedrooms, a toilet, bathroom and kitchen down there, although stanky and flood affected bedroom furniture and unreasonably large number of electronics had not yet been placed inside. Downstairs needed to be shelled out and it was. Now a concrete floor is bare and there are panels missing off the walls. Doors are swollen and waterlogged. The kitchen is now just a bunch of walls with a window. There are mud marks on the walls and large windows and doors, showing a line of crud left behind, more than 2 metres from the floor. The upper level of the house had been partially broken into. The separate room outside was ripped open and one of the windows had been partially levered open. Nothing noticed to be missing. They were not able to get into the whole of the main residence. Further reports of looting in broad daylight proceeded over several days.

Big thank you to Andrew - for a small donation he restored both my mower and edger. It's better than new.

Residence Damage

I got my car back a pretty much only a week before the flood and I took it with me when we left. I'm glad I did leave. Having that car go under would have killed me. I'm renting too so the house isn't mine and the poor owner copped the repairs needed. The house sustained some damage, I guess you could call it minor. The roller door is damaged and still is, bent and has come off on one side. That was probably because of the enormous gas tank that landed in our yard. It was so big that it was bigger than me and it took 4 grown men from Elgas to move it. The hot water system was ripped from its pipes. The first thing I did when I came back was isolate the water. I will have to remember to discuss the next water bill with them. We were without hot water a while afterwards while the system was replaced and already overbooked tradespeople could be sourced. Power circuits upstairs were now perceived as awesome in my eyes because it was glorious and amazing that I could have electricity. Circuits were tested ASAP and upstairs was up and running. Downstairs was stuffed. Stove useless. Our back driveway ramp was damaged during curb side pickup. It's still not fixed. It will be the pain in my ass every time I use the driveway. Just another thing. Our deep street gutters and drains are still full of sand. Over Easter the water would no longer drain and I found myself constantly emptying the sink of blackwater and sand while trying not to wonder where the water was coming from.....

*image is from Echo.net

Clean up

Moving damaged items from waterlogged rooms with cupboards collapsing on top of everything wasn't easy. Water pooled and stank. People get sick. The sick get sicker. The Real Estate and landlord was awesome and sent people out to help with the job and take care of business. There was just too much to do though and most of it could not wait. I had fucking kids everywhere while I silently lost my mind. Who has the time for this? We tracked mud and dirt back upstairs too. It was hard to stay on top of things. At least I had misread the floor plan and the upper level was 1m above 2017 Flood level. No flood water inside upstairs.

I lost my shit every time there was something else to do long after the flood was over. Our bins were waterlogged with waste we were not allowed to add to curb side. Even after a week of drying in the sun (yuck-just imagine) it was still too heavy and council were not able to do normal waste collection. Bins remained full while the usual fortnights of household waste began to wait in bagged piles nearby. The car becomes a mess, an excess place for storing things, tracking more mud or even retaining general waste for such things kids threw on the floor, hidden under a thousand shoes and dirty jumpers. There's no option to clean the car when the bins were full. Yes I lost my shit many times. The sink now has been fixed. Waste removed last Friday. Thank goodness. 7 days of hell with the sink. Countless days with the bin issue. Just one more day without a washing machine.

Big thank-you to Rohan who cleansed downstairs with his disinfectant spray at no charge.

Community Spirit and support

Support came from both within the Lismore Community and surrounds as well as from afar. Watching 'Murwillumbah Matters' I noticed that they also had an amazing force driving recovery for their own town and surrounding areas. For Lismore people came from far and wide to help. Practical assistance and donations were ongoing for quite some time. I had so much stuff to chuck out which also included crap that had floated in from elsewhere. I still had to do some alone and by myself and other's are much the same. Recovery is not yet complete for the community. It will take time but the force is still there, although not as prominent or obvious as before.

Assistance and volunteers were pretty awesome and wide in variety. I saw many items become donated and people offering themselves for many odd jobs. Former Mayor Jenny Dowell also was very active in volunteering, helping clean out the Lismore Lantern shed, among many other voluntary things things such as offering to wash my underpants. Lismore's assistance from within the community was exceptional, including but not limited volunteers from the Lismore Helping Hands and the huge crowd of love, laughter and cheer it attracted.

Thank you HH, SES and FireNSW.

*image is from Lismore Helping Hands

Scams

Insurance scams, assistance scams and donation scams. I know a guy who told me a neighbour up the road from him had two guys show up and offer to assist her to clean her house. She thought they were angels until they demanded $300 and the large crystal she had on display. Reports informed that people stopped by sometimes posing as inspectors or SES. Some are legit but even they haven't escaped the odd story being formed about them, with a particular person informing his insurance guy started taking his stuff with him when he left. Some people are claiming freebies, grants and funds when they aren't flood affected too. You can imagine some people have a few words to say about that.

Also a now infamous Jessie R****** started a Facebook page for handling donations and linking assistance to flood 'victims'. Jessie was then investigated for impersonating an SES Regional Manager in Taree and she has been accused of taking donated funds, having an extensive history for fraud under similar conditions in multiple other areas. There's all sorts of stuff about Jessie on Facebook and other scams here and there and such and such. Its a long list and not something I'll go deep into right now. Jessie is no longer an admin and early on multiple other honest admins were added who ensured the group was steered well into the community's own intentions for the group and purpose. Scams will always happen. It will alway shock and devastate us further. Protect yourself and be careful. Ask for ID and research where donations are going.

Community Loss

Everyone was impacted differently, many are still recovering and some are only just getting started. Lismore CBD and surrounding areas show business closures, sales and auctions. Recovery isn't easy and it isn't always possible At night as I walked around our neighbourhood I noticed some houses have their light on, obviously home and in recovery. Others don't have their lights on. Maybe they are just not home yet or maybe the strong stench of flood mud and disorder of the yard hints towards a larger loss and longer recovery than I can even begin to imagine. I recall the story I was told early on after the flood. A much older woman had spent the night of the flood in her ceiling with nowhere else to go. Im sure that both the loss and experience would have been highly distressing or even traumatic. Some have received a small sum of money, some nothing and some were insured. Grants won't cover everything but we do what can we do. Debbie is done with us. She wont be coming back. Good riddance.

There was loss of life, people, pets and livestock. Some people are still missing. Lismore didn't fair too bad, having one of the lower reported counts of missing persons. I haven't heard of any confirmed deaths in Lismore but following media gets harder everyday. There's only so much death and destruction you can read before become overwhelmed and wondering if your steering yourself into that path.

*Airlie Beach Flood sunrise, thanks to ABC

Moving forward

So the sun shines sometimes and if you don't look to closely it appears as though the world has just moved on. Streets aren't full of wailing citizens and responsibilities and need keep pulling us back into our own routines and rhythms, possible or not. Some things haven't changed. I still have a strong detest for the neighbour two doors up. She pisses me off and she's already been a problem. Work still wants me and Lismore is doing it's best to get on it's feet. We're all in this together, like it or not. What else can I say? I think I've said enough. Everyone else has their own story to tell but we can never know it all. It's just not possible.

Anyways, if you have made it this far you have read my post fully and have now come to it's end. Thanks for reading. You know I'll be back again. It wont be to edit any typos here though. I hope it wasn't too bad.

Take care

-Mez

*image is from Lismore Helping hands

Some Links I bothered to add....I didn't feel like referencing my already long ass blog post......

Daily Mercury (2017) Queensland on alert for potential cyclone. https://www.dailymercury.com.au/news/north-queensland-alert-potential-cyclone-caleb/3158047/

Northern Star (2017) Big Hearts Lead to Helping Hands. https://www.northernstar.com.au/news/big-hearts-lead-to-helping-hands/3172072/

Northern Star (2017) Lismore Evacuation Order. https://www.northernstar.com.au/videos/lismore-evacuation-order/47787/

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