Apocalypse!

At the first rumble of distant thunder I went out and brought all the washing in and put Roxy into the garage. Legend tells that some storms produce hail....I have been here a year and never seen any.....but you cannot be too careful.I closed all the windows downstairs and shut the downstairs door and went upstairs. I closed all the windows up stairs and then a gust of wind blew in the front door and knocked some of Dulcie's pictures off her little table by the door. I brought the door mats in and shut the front door as the first drops of rain started to fall.I am always excited by the approach of a storm. It really is incredible how fast the storms here come up....they are nothing like storms in the UK.I nipped out and took a picture of the approaching clouds from the back steps. It does not do the sky justice but even so not too scary you would think....... I wasn't concerned....but just a little further up the road a Storm Chaser took this near Archerfield Airport,

Now that is scary!

The rain got heavier and the thunder louder and I said to Dulcie,

"Do you think we should turn the TV off?"

"Yes, dear, but switch that kitchen light on."

I switched on the kitchen light and then switched the TV off but the kitchen light went off too.

"There goes the power." I said.

The rain got heavier. It started to creep under the front door so I ran and grabbed a towel and put it behind the door to soak up the water coming in.

So far I had seen it all before..... but then came the wind.

I stood at the sink and looked out of the window at the driving rain and the trees being tossed about. It was literally awesome!

I have never seen anything like it and 10 minutes earlier the sun had been shining.

Suddenly there was a cracking sound and a dull thud. I looked out and saw that a couple of branches from the tree right outside the back door had been torn off. One had fallen between next door's house and car port and one was now resting on their roof.

"A branch has fallen onto Daryl's house!" I cried.

"Well, dear, there's nothing we can do about it now," said Dulcie.

The wind was howling.

"I think we should come and sit in this hallway," I said, "away from the windows." It seemed like the most protected place to me, no windows and two walls close together might hold the roof up better there. I was very scared the roof might collapse or be ripped off or the widows might come in. She reluctantly got out of her chair and came and sat on her walker in the hallway and I crouched down in front of it.

After awhile the wind died down a bit and she moved and sat on the sofa.

The towel behind the front door was soaking so I ran and got another to replace it.

Then the hail started. I have seen lots of hail but these hailstones were almost as big as ping pong balls and they were flying in from the south.

I rushed into Dulcie's bedroom which faces south and saw that the shutters outside were hanging off. (They are there to protect the windows form hailstones) Some hailstones were getting through the gap and hitting the window with a loud 'crack'. Her window sill was dripping so I moved the bed away form the wall and grabbed another towel to put on the windowsill.

"The shutters are hanging off outside your bedroom!" I cried.

Dulcie just shook her head. I am not sure if it was because of the shutters or my overly dramatic rushing about.

The garden was awash and at the front a river was pouring out of the driveway...there was so much water I wondered if everything was ok downstairs.

The hail had stopped so I nipped out of the back door and down under the house.....there was two inches of water in the laundry and it extended into the Man Cave.....luckily our bed and 'lounge' area is on a slightly raised up area so it was dry. I went back out and was heading back up the steps when I saw that half of the shed roof had blown off.

"The shed roof has blown off!" I wailed as I went back in, "but it's ok, it fell over the bath and is protecting the little fishes."

It must have lasted about 30 minutes at most before it all died down. I went out to survey the damage.

The phone rang. It was Will at work asking if we were alright. I listed our 'drama'.He had had two trees blown down at work. He was staying late for a staff meeting.It started to go dark."I wish the power would come back on," said Dulcie."I don't think we will see it back on tonight after that," I said.We could hear sirens wailing somewhere outside and then a familiar  bell ringing.It was only the flippin' ice cream van on his rounds?!Joanne from next door came round to see if we were ok. She said that light planes and helicopters had been flipped over at Archerfield just up the road. One of her sons, who had a house in Annerley had no windows left and his car was wrecked by the hail. The hailstones there had been the size of cricket balls! She left us to the creeping dark.We had cold pasta salad for tea and ate it in a numb silence.I got our solar lamps for light and Dulcie's own bedside lamp with rechargeable batteries."Just have a look in the cupboard in that bedroom and see if there is an old radio, I think it has got batteries in it," said Dulcie.I did find it....it was covered in dust.....heaven knows when it was last used. I doubted it would work.Dulcie switched it on........nothing......I knew it......I was right again.......but then it crackled into life. We both sat huddled around it in the darkness listening to a special storm broadcast."This is what it must have been like in the war," I thought.We learnt that there had been a wind gust recorded at Archerfield of 141 kms per hour. 89,000 homes were without power. The path of devastation was 10kms wide and 60 kms long. They reckoned it was the worst storm for 30 years. It seems that two storms met and formed a 'super cell' and experts said that they were surprised that there was no tornado because conditions were perfect for one to form. Archerfield was one of the worst places hit by the wind but after it passed over us the hail got worse and by the time it hit the south side of the city there were hailstones as big as cricket balls.Will got home at 8.30pm. Dulcie would not go to bed until she saw him home safe.It took him 90 mins to get home and it normally takes 20 minutes. It was chaos out there with traffic lights out of action, roads blocked by trees and flooding.The next time I see a storm approaching I doubt I will feel excited.....I think I am going to be pretty scared.When it is the 'time of the month' Mother Nature can be pretty pissed off!