bad gets worse

14.6. 2021

 

This week has probably been the hardest one we have experienced recently. On Wednesday night the state of Victoria was hit by horrific storms.  The electricity went off in the night as trees fell and took down all the power lines. After a few hours all the phone lines went dead too. There are electrical connections on the mobile phone towers and thel nodes on the landlines that have a limited time of battery backup.

 

We were already under covid lock down rules and so when we lost communications it was illegal to physically visit anyone. To make matters worse the torrential rains caused the flooded rivers to overflow into the surrounding land and closed the main road into Yarra Glen, among many others. 

 

Indi had a friend who lived in a yurt by a river. On Wednesday she gave birth just before the floods started to rise. The midwife, (who we all know), was worried about the family so she ended up swimming through the water next day so she could check up on how things were going. The water was just below the platform supporting their yurt, and she was worried that the whole set up was in danger of floating off in the flood. The baby’s father was not worried and felt that if the worst happened, he could load his family into his canoe!  Somehow the danger of being afloat in a raging flood had escaped his thinking.

 

When Indi heard about this, she tried to ring the SES, but of course the phones were out of action and even the triple zero emergency line was not working. She thought about going to the police but as the living arrangements for the family were not exactly legal, she decided to mount her own rescue.  She could drive through the water to a certain point but then she had to wade to get everyone out. They all ended up at her mother’s house, but I don’t think anyone got much sleep.   Some candle wax got on the carpets too, which did not go down well.

 

We were all very relieved when our power was restored, and we could communicate again. We are the lucky ones and only had this situation for 4 days. Other areas with more trees down are still waiting and it might take another three weeks. Our house works OK without power too. The water still flows by gravity, the stoves are wood, and gas and our toilets still work without the pressure pump. We also had brought a generator so we could keep the freezer and fridges cold, but everything still took more effort.