Storm destruction
Old friend: Melanie Cobb with her childhood teddy bear from her grandmother’s home in Yeppoon after Cyclone Marcia hit on Friday. Brisbane EX-TROPICAL cyclone Marcia has unleashed wild weather including pelting rain, destructive winds and floods and even a waterspout in Queensland.
The Bureau of Meteorology said downpours of up to 70mm had been recorded on the Sunshine Coast.
There was still no electricity in Yeppoon, but the community was being driven by people power in the wake of Cyclone Marcia.
An army of volunteers was yesterday morning helping neighbours and friends move debris, clear trees from roads and clean up.
That was evident nowhere more than on John Street on a hill overlooking the main part of town, where the Smith family’s home was torn apart by the Category 5 storm when it devas- tated the region on Friday. Leanne Smith, whose daughter and two grandchildren, aged 7 and 11, were evacuated from the home, said she couldn’t believe what was left when she returned to survey the damage.
‘‘I was actually really emotionally affected by it,’’ Smith said.
‘‘It’s just not something you can really explain to people, it’s actually quite devastating.’’
Miraculously, the family’s goldfish survived the storm and was found swimming around in its small tank surrounded by the home’s fallen walls.
‘‘It was called Pig, but my grandson Tarn has renamed it Superfish after this,’’ she laughed.
Smith said she was overwhelmed by the amount of support pouring in for her daughter and grandchildren already.
‘‘All these people are here to help,’’ she said, gesturing to a dozen or so people moving debris and packing the family’s damaged belongings.
A charity mobile laundry service, Orange Sky Laundry, also pulled up to help the family wash clothes for free.
Co-founder Lucas Patchett said the service, which usually helps homeless people, was also used in disaster situations.
‘‘We drove around a bit, saw some news crews up here and thought it must be a badly affected area, so just turned up and offered to wash and dry people’s clothes,’’ he said.
Queenland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says everyone was ‘‘breathing a deep sigh of relief’’ that no one had been hurt or killed, but she was concerned several hundred homes have been damaged in the Rockhampton area.
She said all the major airports in central Queensland had been reopened and the biggest issue was blackouts in Rockhampton, Yeppoon, Bundaberg and Bileola.
But she said there was the potential for moderate flooding in Gympie and minor river rises in Woodford and Bundaberg.
‘‘I know some people are going through some heartache, these are their homes, their homes that have been destroyed,’’ she said.
Deputy Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said the focus was evacuating the Callide River area and the clean-up in Rockhampton. He warned people all over central Queensland and the southeast to be careful.
AAP