"Ah, the wind and the rain."
- Weddings Parties Anything, 1989
"Happy Birthday Helen."
- Things of Stone & Wood, 1992
Look what happens when you talk about the weather. You get more of it.
Right now, I was supposed to be on a flight to Melbourne scheduled to leave Darwin two hours ago.
Instead I'm at work, where I've been for the past 18 hours.
When I woke up this morning, the tropical low was still tracking west away from Darwin. After 0900 Central Standard Time it turned east, headed back out into Joseph Bonaparte Gulf, and picked up speed. Cyclone Helen was born.
Helen was only was only a few hours old and just a little category 1 but growing fast. She howled for attention, and got it; by mid afternoon she grew to a category 2 and everyone started paying attention.
So here we are at the Corporation (where the building is rated for category 5), toiling away. No hotel room to go to, and anyway, who knows what the 7th floor in a hotel is rated for?
It's nearly 6am now, and the damned thing should have blown herself out hours ago. Against expectations, she huffed and puffed for longer than expected, bringing down palm trees and mahogany branches all over the city.
Here's the palms that are now blocking the accessway to the Corporation car park:They mean that we can't get work vehicles in or out.
And here's a couple of trees, still in belated festive mode, down in Cavenaugh St in the CBD:
Helen was just a little cyclone by local standards, although a tricky one. But I think she's on her way out now. I've now officially survived my first cyclone.
1 comment:
I wouldn't trust the corporation building either. Afterall these buildings are made by the cheapest bidder!
Still something different, not everyone has been through a cyclone, not something that Slowbart has to worry about!
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