Hi everyone,

Here is the promised report on what happened after we got out of the shelter and what was the damage like.

After all the worries and sleeplessness, I was simply too tired to do it yesterday. And today (Sunday) the post-cyclone cleanup started - I had actually planned to send out this earlier today.

Also sorry for all the spelling mistakes in my last newsletter - I hate to see it - but it shows you the difference it makes when you write while sitting on the floor and when you haven't slept for two days.

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In This Issue:

• The Aftermath and the Damage

• Feedback Always Welcome

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THE AFTERMATH AND THE DAMAGE OF ITA

About an hour after I sent the last newsletter we were allowed out of the shelter.

It still rained and it was still very windy and there was a fair bit of tree damage on our way home.

We got home and our house was still standing - with the roof and all!!! :-)

The yard was quite messy with lots of tree branches on the ground, and two trees uprooted.

The boat and the van were tied up and had not moved, but the van had had a fair shake.

Having investigated all that, we went to our neighbours who had decided to stay at home.

The tough old Phil - not scared of anything, yells from his back yard: "Mate, I have been through cyclones, but this was the scariest thing I have ever been through". And his face was dead serious.

I knew the shelter saved us a lot of scare compared to listening to those winds inside our house!

Then I took off to the town to see what the damage was like (I would never be able to give you the full report on the damage even if I wanted, but I can tell you what I saw and heard).

I have to say it really made a HUGE difference that by the time Ita got to Cooktown, it actually was downgraded to Category Three.

I remember very well the damage from Larry and Yasi, I was living closer to where Larry hit in 2006, and during Yasi I was close again because I happened to be travelling.

If I think back to these two, and compare it to the damage we actually got, I tell you - that downgrade so late in its path - saved us a lot of roofs, a lot of structural damage, and also a lot of rainforest damage as well.

There is quite a bit of tree damage, there is an occasional ripped roof that ended up in the neighbour's yard, but nowhere close to as many as we saw after Larry and Yasi.

And like with all the other cyclones, there were the unlucky ones that got smashed while the surrounding houses got no damage.

The most notable was the West Coast Hotel in the main street that lost its roof - and there are some others in town.

The weather was still extreme with rain, strong winds, and some very dark and wild waters at the river mouth.

Later in the day (Saturday 12 April) the rains gradually disappeared with the cyclone getting farther away from us, and this morning (Sunday 13 April) when I opened my office window my room was full of sunshine - and the smell of fresh wood - from all the broken branches just outside.

It ended up being a beautiful day with no wind and calm waters, and a picture perfect sunset - as if Ida was just a dream.

We are starting to get our things moved back to where they were, we still have no power and they say probably not for weeks - so there will be shops and businesses that will be closed as the town now runs on generators.

And we had the water guy coming around today, saying the water is now on but please use sparingly as "the one water tank up the hill is all we have".

So the life is far from back to normal, but we get by, and in the coming days I will get back to working on the price updates full time.

Once the dust has settled and we can see what the roads are doing in a bit longer term, I will send out a newsletter with what the roads will be like for people who want to travel soon (June and later travellers are very unlikely to be affected by this cyclone).

And last but not least - thanks again for all the well wishes - I now wish to all of you down south that you don't get any floods from Ita!!!

 
FEEDBACK ALWAYS WELCOME

I really appreciate any kind of feedback on the Destination Guide.

Please let me know if you enjoyed it while planning before the trip, and while using the information once on the trip.

If you get any questions about anything, please feel welcome to contact me.

That's all for this time - happy planning everyone :-)

Katrin


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