I've
experienced tornados, snowstorms, and dust storms, but I've never actually seen
a flood firsthand - until now. Maitland had a Category 3 cyclone come through
on April 21st, which was later defined as a natural disaster and one of the
worst storms Maitland's had in 60 years! And I was there to witness it.
Rain in
Australia is pretty normal, it seems to rain quite often in the evenings after
a really hot day, or we'll get a week straight of wet weather. So when I woke
up on the morning of the 21st (roundabout 8am), I looked out my window to
"check the weather" for work- like I always do - and then let out an
unenthused sigh knowing that I'd have to drive an hour in the rain to get to
work later that day.
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I laid in
bed for the next hour cuddling with Snoop, and watching as the storm seemed to
get worse. Living in Amarillo, Texas all my life I know high winds, and these
were ridiculous. All I could picture was a tree blowing over and smashing into
my Jeep. How would I get to work then?! Apparently that was the least of my
worries...
As I was downstairs feeding Snoop, Mitch and
Phil, finally started waking up. I asked Mitch if we were still going to the
stadium to do Insanity, and he said no because Kerry (another friend I train
with) had texted him saying Maitland looked like a war zone with all the fallen
trees, and roads were starting to close, too. The wind was still raging
outside, and all of a sudden torrential rain started falling. I was a bit scared
REALLY not wanting to drive to work in this now. Mitch got a call from our
landlord asking if everything was okay at our place, which was just a
hundred meters down the hill from her house. At that moment everything seemed
to be fine, except having lost power sometime in the night. Phil went to the
garage to pick up his shoes from the ground (just in case) and came running
back in saying the garage was flooded and it was starting to come in the living
room. At that point I just happen to be walking into my bedroom to change
clothes and realized I too had water coming into my bedroom!
Mitch sprang
out of bed and ran outside to grab a shovel so he could dig a trench to try and
force the water away from our place. It was really no use; it was like the
floodgates had opened and there was no redirecting what was coming at us. While
the boys were outside I was scrambling to get everything off the floor of my
bedroom and living room. My biggest concern was the perfect pomegranate colored
bridesmaid dress I had JUST BOUGHT for one of my best friend's weddings coming
up in October...take anything else flood waters, just not that!
Everything
had been taken off the floor, and I could still hear a big leak coming from
somewhere near the floorboard. I finally spotted the source of most the
incoming water to my room, a tiny hole about the width of my pinky. I put my
finger there to stop the water, but then realized I couldn't sit there like
that all day. The only thing I could find to use that I thought would fit, was
Phil's toothbrush...and it did...so I used it...sorry, Phil.
By this time I was standing ANKLE-DEEP in water, in my bedroom!
The rain had started to slow down, but since we were at the bottom of a hill
the runoff kept coming. Mitch and I were shoveling water from my bedroom's
carpeted floor into the bathroom where the only drain was located. We shoveled
water, (using Tupperware lids I might add) for three hours! Hardly making a
dent. The water had completely flooded my room, and all but the very center of
the living room. I called my boss and the woman I changeover shifts with,
explaining my situation, and that I had no clue how I was going to get to work
on time or if the roads were even open They both understood the severity of the
storm, and said my safety was top priority and not to worry because the shift
would be covered. Shwew!
The rest of
the day was spent removing as much water as we could from the house and moving
in with our landlord for the time being. We took a drive around town and there
was literally only one road open to get in and out of Maitland, all the others
were under water. I'd never seen so much water in my life! Our backyard has a
pasture behind it and what once was a small pond had turned into a giant lake
with an island of cows right in the middle. All I could think was how this
storm couldn't have come at a worse time because my friend Caitlin was coming
to visit in three days.
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The night of
the storm we cooked a big feast on the barbecue using all our refrigerated
meats before they went bad. After dinner we played Uno and "Mitch's Crazy
Game." It's amazing the fun you can have when everyone's not so obsessed
with being on their phone or computer. The power stayed off for three days, so
each of the following nights were just like the first...making random meals
from scratch, and playing lots of card games before an early bedtime
:)
Fortunately
I had work on the third day when the power came back on and the deep cleaning
began. Mitch and Maxine vacuumed up the water all day trying to dry out our
carpets as much as possible; then they shampooed them, twice, and set every fan
we could find on the carpet to start drying it out. The plus side to this was
that our carpet was the cleanest it'd ever been, all of Snoop's previous
accidents washed away :) The other plus side was that I missed out on all the
hard cleanup work, and by Sunday Caitlin and I were long gone to Ayer's Rock so
I missed out on the moving back in process too...lucky me :)
"When you pass through the waters, I
will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when
you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume
you." - Isaiah 43:2
XO - Cristin
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