Cyclone Debbie: ‘We hid under the house for two days’

I've barely slept since Cyclone Debbie hit my home on Airlie Beach in northern Queensland on Monday night.

I’ve been through a few cyclones in my 14 years here, including Cyclone Yasi in 2011 which left us without power for a few days, but it was nothing like this. We are on cyclone watch every year, but Debbie was unprecedently worse than expected. It was the scariest experience of my life.

The storm lasted 36 hours, non-stop from Monday right through to the early hours of Wednesday. The eye of the cyclone passed over at 4am on Tuesday and we thought we had escaped. Then the wind direction changed to northerly, which was bad news for Airlie. Boats were washed up onto beaches, roofs were blown off, trees were knocked down.

My house has folding doors all along one side, which open out with a view over the ocean. The glass was flexing from the pressure, and it felt like they could explode at any minute. I evacuated to a neighbour’s, where we hid in a bedroom underneath the house for two days. You couldn’t step outside for fear of getting blown off the balcony, the winds were so strong.

My best friend here had a baby last week by C-section. They spent the night of the storm with their backs to the door with their newborn, fearing the locks weren’t strong enough to hold them closed.

My other friend Fiona, who is originally from Cork, hid in their bathroom with her partner and their two children aged two and six months, after their doors and windows blew in.

We had another electrical storm last night with very heavy rainfall. The 3-metre high tide led to more flooded roads and houses. It is devastating to walk around Airlie in the aftermath. Roads are blocked, trees are down, houses are buckled.

I was relieved to see my own house still standing when I returned to it. The trees all around the have all fallen down, and my swimming pool looks like it could have crocodiles living in it. But the roof and windows are still intact. I have three Aussie friends staying with me now, because they have no windows and doors left on their houses.

Back to basics

The whole community has had to return to basics. We have been without power since Monday, and the running water has been cut off to prevent contamination. But everyone was prepared for this cyclone, with water in storage and gas barbecues at the ready. It is like camping in your own house.

I had a shower standing under a broken gutter outside my house last night in my underwear, hoping the neighbours weren’t looking. I knew it wouldn’t be an unusual sight; many others are doing the same thing. It is unbearably muggy, with temperatures up around 35 degrees in 80 per cent humidity. Our couches and beds feel damp from all the moisture in the air.

The army and navy haven’t been able to access the area, because heavy flooding has blocked the roads, but they are on their way now and will give assistance to those most in need. Some people have been really unlucky; their houses have been completely destroyed.

The local SES Queensland rescue service has been nothing short of amazing, working around the clock. People in Brisbane have been recording the news and sharing the videos on Facebook for us to view on our phones, because we have no access to wifi and are on lockdown in our houses.

It is amazing that we can share the headlines through social media like that, and other important information like when the emergency triage is open, or what supplies the local Woolies supermarket has in stock. The local newspaper managed to publish an edition today, after hooking up to a generator.

Workers returned to the supermarkets today and started restocking the shelves, so people could get more essential supplies. People are sucking fuel out of their boats to keep the generators in the hospitals and businesses running. Local restaurants have reopened their doors, and have a mobile food van to distribute food to anyone who needs it in the community, paid for by a few businesses in the area.

The biggest local ferry company have started running boats from here to Hamilton Island and Daydream Island, to evacuate all the backpackers and tourists. Bus services are starting to take people up north to Cairns. Some boat companies already have vessels out on the water and are expecting to resume tourist services on Saturday.

Community spirit

It is a really small community, but there is a strong Irish presence because of all the backpackers like me who came through on tours of the Whitsunday Islands or the Great Barrier Reef, but ended up staying. This time last week we were having a few drinks together for St Patrick’s Day. Little did we know just a few days later we would be battening down the hatches for a cyclone.

Tourism is the lifeblood of the community, and there is apprehension about how the impact of the storm. Right now my friends are checking their boats and resorts, but by next week I think they will be back open for business.

The sun came out this afternoon, and the sunset this evening was beautiful. If you could look beyond the destruction, you would never know we had been hit by a cyclone. Queensland often experiences extreme weather like this, we get thunderstorms one day and blue skies the next. This is the worst cyclone we’ve experienced but we will bounce back. There has been no loss of life and that’s the main thing.

There is a lot of talk about the effect of climate change on this part of Australia. It has been getting increasingly hot over the past few years, and the reef around us is experiencing unprecedented bleaching. This year's wet season has been remarkably dry and hot.

Extreme weather is just part of life here now. I’ve made a choice to live in the tropics, so I have to expect these conditions. I have a friend in Melbourne whose house was flooded last week - you get bad weather everywhere, including Ireland as we know only too well.

Another potential low pressure front is forecast for next week, which could bring more bad weather. I really hope it passes us by, because we just need to get on with the cleanup, getting the roads cleared and rebuilding the damaged houses and businesses. Our idyllic area of the world will regain its stunning natural tropical feel in weeks.

This week has been hard, but next weekend after the cleanup I will probably be lying by my pool with a piña colada, or sailing around the Whitsundays on my yacht. It is still a very special place to live.

- In conversation with Ciara Kenny