31. Tornado Trouble

23rd January 2016

Tornado Trouble

Photo taken 23rd January 2016 about an hour after the tornado passed through.

As you can see blue skies and sunshine make the whole picture very surreal. 

It was shaping up to be a fairly normal Saturday at the Nook. I had just put my youngest down for a nap and put the kettle on for a much needed cuppa. 

While I waited for it to boil, I headed outside to give the chickens their grain. 

It was then I noticed the most ominous black cloud I have ever seen, it literally stretched from as far up as the eye could see to the ground, was charcoal grey and almost looked solid!

 "Wow there is some rain in that" I thought to myself and began to grab the washing off the line. Little did I know that the washing I was bringing inside would be the only clothes that three members of our family would have for the next week.

I dumped the washing on the couch and took my cuppa down to my eldest daughters room to show her the cloud.

 It looked even blacker than I remembered and had lightning bolts flashing through it.The wind picked up and was soon howling around the property.

 Strong winds are common here but these ones were so strong you could see horizontal lines forming in them. Leaves, sticks and small pieces of debris were all whizzing around in the wind, only a few minutes later small branches and larger objects could be seen  flying around  the house. it was then the rain started, heavy droplets in almost a deluge bounced off the roof and windows in all directions. Then a branch almost the size of my leg flew past the window. Two things happened in very quick succession after that; the wind seemed to suddenly disappear but all the objects it had collected were still hanging in the air suspended motionless and I could distinctly hear a loud hum.

All the hairs on my arms stood on end and a loud voice in my head said "This is a tornado, you need to get out of the back rooms". I called out to my third child who was playing with her Ipod on her bed. "We need to get out of the back rooms". I then grabbed my eldest daughters hand and we fled. Meeting my other daughter at her bedroom door I repeated the warning. We had only taken a few steps down the hallway when the manhole above our head was sucked up into the roof and we heard the sound of breaking glass overhead which I quickly realised was the solar hot water system. "Run" I shouted "and don't look back".

 With the girls and the dog safely inside the walk in robe in my bedroom. I headed back out to the lounge room to grab the baby. A dark shadow was forming across the ceiling above the couch where she was sleeping - boiling hot water from the now shattered solar system was saturating the ceiling. With a mighty shove I pushed both the couch and sleeping baby as far forward across the room as I could. The baby woke with a start and began to cry as I took her to join her sisters in the walk in robe. "Mummy has to leave you one more time, do not move until I come and get you okay" I instructed all three children. I headed back to the kitchen to try and plug the landline in (we had lost power about 30 minutes before the storm began). I could see  and hear water pouring in through the ceiling through the manhole but didn't dare go down the hallway as I didn't know what had hit the roof or how bad the damage was. With shaking hands I finally managed to get the corded phone plugged in and called the State Emergency Service. 

Fifteen minutes later the wind and rain had disappeared as quickly as they had arrived and I headed outside to survey the damage. I stepped off of the pavers and into shin deep water! As I walked around to the back of the house I was met by both my neighbour and a very sobering sight. An ancient jarrah tree had been brought down over the back end of the house. It was not the only tree brought down on the property a fifteen year old marri had been blown down on the other side of the house and there was a tangle of branches and leaves about a metre deep covering the entire property. Devastating as the damage was I knew just how easily one of my children could have been injured or killed and couldn't help but be grateful not to be making funeral arrangements.

Our daughters bedroom was a sobering sight as she had been sitting 

on the bed literally 5 seconds before the tree hit. This photo was taken

 from outside of the house looking in from where the window used to be. 

We left the property with our four children at 6.00pm after giving clear instructions that we wanted as much of the tree intact as possible for slabbing and to just get it off the house, we would deal with the rest. We would try to make as many silver linings as possible from our situation. The slabs could be used to make a beautiful desk in the study and the rest of the tree would provide a good few years of firewood and mulch. 

The caretaker appointed by the insurance company informed us that until the structural engineer had inspected the property we wouldn't know the extent of the situation but to prepare for the reality that our home may need to be partially demolished. With our heads spinning and our hearts heavy we left Kookaburra Nook Homestead, seeking asylum at my cousin's home in Oakford. It was later that night that we learned that a man in North Dandalup had captured footage of the tornado touching down.