Storm warning…

Yesterday a violent thunderstorm ripped through Sydney killing a man, destroying many buildings and leaving tens of thousands of homes without power. (For more details and pictures click here) Followed by hail and gale force winds. The man died when a tree fell on his car The storm was centred in the Western Sydney area where the farm we recently cared for is situated.

I received this e-mail from Deidre (who with Kim are the farm owners))…

“I’m glad we were home when this storm hit – we took a direct hit, a bit of hail and wind like you can’t imagine. Power went off of course.  But we have been very fortunate.  A tree that could have hit the house has been stopped by the dead tree (to the south of the dog pen). That tree should have been taken out after a lightening strike last year, but the contractor never turned up to do it!  Branches fell off, one hit the very corner of our bedroom but only bent a gutter that needs replacing anyway.  There is a big part of tree near the dog pen, but it fell between the wheelie bin and the gate, so if we crawl under we can still lock them up.  Other small stuff down all over, but the driveway OK.  The rented house had a tree fall between the carport and a shed, it damaged an old trailer. Andy and Raylene had a tree fall between structures too.  And, miracle of miracles, the power, phone and internet all came back on very quickly. That is a first.  (Neighbours said trees pulled down power lines locally, so I guess it was a relatively easy fix).

 Thought you might hear stories of storms in Sydney, and wanted to let you know we are OK.”

I was so relieved to hear they were ok, and thankful we never had that terrifying experience when we were in charge.

Now the storm is heading our way, 70 km per hour winds are presently buffeting our area and rain is forecast for later tonight. Fortunately the intensity has decreased so hopefully we will get some rain but not as bad as Sydney.

I biked down to the end of the street just before the rain started to capture these images of the storm clouds rolling in.

This sensible duck had bunkered down off the water for the night.

The garden is in need of a good soaking rain. I didn’t do any watering today…