The Swim Carnival

One great thing about living a warm, beach community is that the schools provide swimming lessons for all the kids during term one.  Each Tuesday all the kids with their swimsuits, rashies, thongs (the shoe type), and towels board the bus and head to the local pool.   Today was the final day of swimming this term and it ended with a big, school-wide swim carnival.  It was such a fun experience to watch.  All the students are divided into 5 different house groups.  Will's house group is Jordan and they are orange.  All the kids arrive at the pool, wearing the appropriate house group color, ready to cheer on their team.  Throughout the day, students were reminded to stay in the shade, keep their hats on, and reapply sunscreen (which the school provides) as well as encouraged to make-up cheers and yell for their teammates.  It was quite an exciting day.  Will participated in two races:  the 25m free-style and the 25m breast-stroke.  He won first in the breast-stroke.  He was incredibly excited and decided that maybe, just maybe he should become a competitive swimmer.   We shall see, but for now we will enjoy today's success.  Way to go Will!

After the storm

Okay sorry for the delay, but the internet hasn't recovered from the storm.  Here's the update...
I can't possibly adequately describe the effects of TCM (Tropical Cyclone Marcia).
Maybe organizing into groups could help.
I.  The Hospital
  The day of the cyclone was bit slower than usual at the hospital.  Happily there were no deaths, and very few actual cyclone injuries.  But for the next few days, that all changed.
  First, the power was out.  The hospital has generators for lights and medical equipment.  Like any hospital in the U.S. there are plugs designated as generator-powered.  The computers were up and running.
  But what was NOT running was the air conditioner.  And by the day after the storm, the hospital, along with the rest of the area, began to heat up.  Try June in Texas with no air-conditioning in a building with no fans or breeze.  Miserable.  And this lasted for about 72 hours.  Patients were hot, nurses were hot, and I can vouch for doctors being hot.  At one point, I was sewing a laceration and the patient's wife offered to wipe my forehead.  Praise to the power company who felt the hospital was priority, because it was one of the first buildings to have electricity restored.
  The two days after the storm were easily twice as busy as normal.  Patients were streaming in who were injured during clean-up, so lacerations and contusions and a few fractures.  Many people, especially elderly, were suffering heat exhaustion and dehydration as they tried to get out and clean up in the heat.  There were even some who came with stress-reactions and mental anguish.  There were patients lining the halls, sweating in the heat.  It was very much an emergency situation.  Add to that the fact that our referral center, Rockhampton Hospital, was every bit as busy, making it very difficult to refer patients who needed specialist care.
  As the days continued and the power was slowly restored to parts of the city, the numbers eased back to a more normal pace.
II.  The church
  We attend St. James Anglican Church.  It is a very old structure, and they are in the process of building a new sanctuary.  As with any old building in the area, there was damage.  Gutters were torn off, trees were toppled, water flooded in, and some of the asbestos roof tiles flew away.  The church parsonage (I can't recall what the Anglican term is) next door suffered the loss of some roofing, flooding, and the solar water heater on the roof blew off spreading glass all over the property.  We dropped by this past Monday to help clean up, skillfully avoiding the asbestos.
III.  The community
In my job, I am privileged to meet many people from Yeppoon, Byfield, Bangalee, Emu Park, Farnborough, Zilzie, and on and on.  With this comes many stories of how each individual has been affected by the storm.  I've heard of people watching roofs blow off, windows break, coconuts blowing uphill, trees falling into houses, flooding, metal roofing slicing through walls, and cars rocking with the wind.  Many people still do not have electricity, and some areas are predicted to be without for 2 months.  And many of those people in the rural areas couldn't leave their property until they chainsawed their way out, and they rely on the electricity to pump their water. 
In the city, it was the older houses that suffered the most.  A building ordinance was passed in 1984 mandating cyclone-proof building, but prior to that there was no code.  Many of the older "Queenslander" style homes were build to withstand flooding, but the destructive winds that ripped away roofing and broke windows have left many people homeless.

A psychologist friend predicts that the mental trauma will begin to show as the adrenaline wears off.  Many children have seen fear in their parents eyes, likely hearing screaming during the worst of the storm.  Homelessness, loss of the familiar, a disruption of normal, all have left their toll on the most impressionable.






IV.  Our family

Our sturdy home

  To some degree, people were right.  We were a bit prepared, having grown up in tornado alley.  We knew what storms could do, and knew how to be safe.  We (reluctantly) withstood the loss of air-conditioning and ability to charge our devices for 5 days.  The opportunity was there to become closer as a family.  The kids worked puzzles and played games, Will read a book, Tricia and I went for drives around to see the damage and read by lantern-light at night.  Our pantry was stocked, we cooked on a gas stove, and ate what we could from the freezer before it thawed.  Our sturdy building of cinder block and safety glass held strong (with a little roof damage), and the sea did not rise enough to flood us.  All in all, we were very lucky.

Puzzle working

  The girls were out of school all week, and Will restarted school on Thursday.  We've had friends over to swim (once the pool was cleaned up and the pump was running), and Will had another surfing class Saturday.  (my sympathy to all of those in the icy tundra of Texas)  I've been working nights all week, which is kind of nice because I'm home all day with the kids.  I'd say we're getting back to "normal".


The Positive:  It has also been a privilege to watch the community come together in support of one another.  The army and SES (State Emergency Services) have set up camp in Yeppoon.  Tree trimmers and construction workers have come from all over the state.  There are signs up thanking rescue workers.  One of the businesses offered free pizzas to the emergency crews working.  As you drive down the street there is a large homemade sign advertising "free power", a place to hook up for those who haven't had their electricity restored.  Another individual with an industrial washer and dryer on a trailer, hooked up to a generator, drove around town offering to help people with their laundry.  The cell phone company, Telstra, provided free calls from phone booths (Yes, they actually have phone booths here).  Several people have told stories of neighbors offering to help with clean-up, when the neighbor, themselves, had more of a job.  One of the foundations in town hosted a "Marcia After Party" which included cold drinks, a free sausage sizzle, and live music for all in attendance. We found the cold drinks to be a welcomed treat after several days of hot temperatures and no ice.  Another group provided a movie on the beach to provide some much needed relaxation after a tough week.  Even at surf lessons, the beach access was covered in debris, so a parent went home and returned with a saw and cleared a way for all the kids and surf boards.  All in all it has been an interesting experience. 

So, as the cleanup continues around the community, and power is restored to those without, we rest knowing that we are still safe, and together as a family.

Part of the city.  Notice the roof in the foreground.