Tropical Cyclone Marcia

I don't know if any of you lovely people out there have been following this, but Queensland has just been hit by a rather quick forming cyclone.  TC Marcia may have been small, but she certainly packed a punch (Cat 5), and she's not done yet.  Although downgraded to a Cat 1 cyclone, Marcia has been steadily heading down the coast, which means that by lunchtime today it should be over/near my town, and although I love wet and stormy weather, I'm not to enthused about the strong winds that could still be gusting at over 95km/h - even if she's downgraded again into a Low.

 Out and about after heading to the shops to pay a bill - in case I get flooded in!

Strangely while everyone back home on the coast is getting drenched, I had no real rain to report yesterday.  Then at about 10pm last night, the heavens opened and it has been raining ever since.  It's down to a drizzle at the moment, but there has been enough rain over the last 12 hours to start flooding some roads.  I hope that any of the rivers upstream don't flood - otherwise I'll be flooded in!

Wish I was back on the coast for this.  I just love watching the waves crash against the shore.  Although if we get more rain running off into the massive storm drain that backs up to my unit complex, then I'll definitely be seeing some wave action!

Thinking warm thoughts ;-D, and until next time,

 

Floodwaters receded, phones down and I cooked!

 

Today the sun is shining - and I've managed to get some washing on the line - and I feel great. However, I've got to tell you that I had more than a few anxious moments watching the floodwaters creep up the road. Thankfully the water didn't get any higher than in some of the photos, but the huge stormwater drain behind me did keep me twitchy.



you could surf in this stuff!

Then yesterday, the day after the flooding, all the cell phone coverage - all networks - went kaput.  So, not only couldn't I get in contact with relatives on the coast who were hunkering down in 100km/h plus winds, but I had no way to check the weather or emergency reports for this area.  Not impressed with the phone companies.

 



So as I anxiously waited for the phones to come back online, I started to cook.  First a chocolate cake, then a lasagna.  I have been re-reading the Stephanie Plum books to pass the time during the storms - and she's a terrible influence on my menu!  The cake is yummy and very dense.  And I am so proud of the lasagna as it is the first ever time I've cooked it!  It's delicious, and the pasta is cooked just right.  However it's not as good as my mothers lasagna.  Isn't your mother's cooking always tastier than your own attempts at family recipes?  Thankfully I don't have any pineapples in the house or it could have been a pineapple upside-down cake as I do have a recipe floating around somewhere.  My only problem is now I have to either eat it all, or freeze some of the lasagna as I went a little bit overboard.  Perhaps I could have Lula come over for a feed? :-)

Flooded in as ex-Cyclone Oswald batters QLD

I'm screwed!  My street is flooded at both ends, totally cutting us off, and the rain is still coming down in sheets.  In the last 24hrs we've had over 300mm.  I don't think it'd take much more before we see flood waters in our block.