Cyclone Alfred - Brisbane Australia

[wattmatters]

It now looks like we have hit that period where the rain is just going to be non-stop. The bridge across the river has now gone under and is closed and several areas are now isolated and will be for quite some time. I expect later today we'll be cut off from the main highway.

And yet the worst of it is north of us. Can't imagine what the folks in the northern rivers region are going through only a few years since record breaking and devastating floods.

Cyclone is still inching its way around.

 

[Wil Tryharder]

Yes, we’re at Tweed Heads

Wow! You’re getting very wet by the looks of it. I’ve fished the tweed river and it’s a really low lying area. Best of luck to you

awaiting news of any flight out of Brisbane,

Did you make it out? Most of the local carriers stopped.

 

[wattmatters]

Still raining, roads still cut.

Grid power hasn't been interrupted fortunately (poco sent a warning out yesterday to expect it) but even so I've been making use of the V2L, charging the car up during the free energy period 12-2PM each day and discharging to the home battery to supplement the poor solar PV supply.

So far have discharged a total of 32.1 kWh across six individual discharge sessions.

 

[pfaus]

We lost power early Thursday morning and got it back Saturday afternoon. So a total of around 60 hours out, and used V2L for that time to run fridge, lights, kettle, toaster, microwave and phone chargers. Battery went from 87% to 67% over that time so we still had plenty in reserve if it had gone on longer. The Tweed is still rising but hopefully the rain eases tomorrow and life will start to get back to normal.
It felt very comforting to have the battery to keep us going, especially when I could hear generators running at a few houses nearby but understand fuel was hard to find.

 

[securespark]

Battery went from 87% to 67% over that time so we still had plenty in reserve

Don't you mean you still had plenty in reverse?

 

[Eagle5]

Did you make it out? Most of the local carriers stopped.

yes thanks,the warreago highway closed at Toowoomba due to flooding in Lockyer valley, so we drove to Brisbane via Esk and roads all clear that way, caught a flight 11th March. 18:10hrs and the rest is now history.

 

[securespark]

Wow.

Not heard from folks such as wattmatters for a while, have we?

 

[Wil Tryharder]

Here in Noosa we dodged a bullet for sure. The cyclone sat just south of us for 4 days sending huge winds and even bigger rainfalls on its southern side . The tides on the southern side just torn the beaches away. But on the northern side, just a slight off shore winds and no damage at all.
Here the power stayed on the whole time. So not even the need for the back battery and V2L from the MG4. Lots of cleaning up down south, lots of insurance claims too.

 

[wattmatters]

Wow.

Not heard from folks such as wattmatters for a while, have we?

All good here, we just had a huge amount of rain, about a metre of rainfall across the local catchment. Winds down here were not that bad.

No issues for us personally other than it being dismal. Roads were cut but we expected that and had planned for it. Despite the awful weather we somehow escaped any power outages. I was using the car to top up the home battery each day for several days and recharge it when the power was free.

Local beaches took a hammering, lots of driftwood and other debris and a lot of sand erosion. It comes back eventually, just takes years. Not as bad as further north. Water is still very murky, which is all the silt outflow from the two local rivers. As the water washes through it eventually settles.

I've never seen that rock in the foreground before - it would have been covered by about a metre of sand.

Instead of a gentle slope to the beach, it's now about an 8' drop. That will also get easier to use over time.

Also we've been busy as we just sold our home and we are now in the house move phase. Having a major weather even right before contract settlement did have our nerves a little on edge.

Took my first two trailer loads over to the new place today:

We have so much stuff...

 

[decrep]

At least you have a nice big shed to house it!
Next step, build some shelves? highest for least used

 

[securespark]

Yeah, that's the sort of shed I'd like! Trouble is I think the neighbours might complain.

And Mrs S ...

Thanks for getting back, guys.

 

[wattmatters]

Next step, build some shelves? highest for least used

All in good time. I have some cabinets, workbenches and shelves to bring over. Was thinking in longer term to construct an office/workshop/workout facility inside, perhaps with a mezzazine on top for storage. That's someway down the priority list however.