Storm

Yesterday was an exceptional day.
It started nice enough.  I commented to Merril that the mornings and evenings were the nicest part of the days at the moment.  We were gone from here before 6am to a prayer meeting we have.  We then went to breakfast with a friend.  When we arrived home about 8.30am it was already hot.  At 9am a mate came for a visit.  We spent the time in air conditioned comfort. 
After that another mate came over about 10.30 am.  After we had spent time together shooting the breeze we emerged into the heat again.  His comment to me was “it’s like an oven.”  It reminded me of what my mum used to say.  “The day is coming when it will burn like an oven.”
He left around 12.30 and Merril and I had lunch and then had a rest.
It was when we got up the action really started.  We were hit by a storm.  I have been in this suburb a number of decades and have never seen anything like it.  The wind was amazingly strong.  To me what made it more dangerous is the wind was coming from the opposite direction to normal.  Trees seem to develop strength to stand against prevailing winds.  As this was opposite, they seemed particularly vulnerable.
As it unfolded we were watching from inside.  We saw a tree opposite break and break again.  A huge gum down the road lost its canopy and I am told crashed onto the shed of the owner where it was.  During it we lost power.
Burpengary has been really good for maintaining power when it was out elsewhere.  But not this time.
After it was all over a neighbour said to me “it has just gotten real.”  He was spared any damage but power being out was incredibly unusual. It was actually out for going on 12 hours.  I was starting to think what I needed to do if it continued but fortunately it was restored by morning.
Another neighbour we checked on had a big branch of one of our trees in his yard.  I think his decision is sensible.  He has decided to leave it and wait until the end of this week and clear that branch and any others that may come his way. They had just sold the place.
I am so glad we chose to remove the huge bloodwood we had in the place.  The direction of the wind would have sent it straight into his place.
All in all we came out of it pretty good.  From the sound of the sirens and the report of a next door neighbour saying on the drive home from work he saw tress down and on cars everywhere, it could have been so much worse here.