| From the time of the first
cyclone warning until the morning after Cyclone Paula passed, Karen kept a
diary of our preparations and a record of how the cyclone developed.
These notes reflect our first experience of a tropical cyclone.
|
|
Monday
26 February 2001
|
| 11.00am |
Radio
Vanuatu announced that a tropical depression had been identified to the
northwest of Torres Islands Vanuatu.
The situation would be monitored, as it was possible that it could
develop into a cyclone within the next 24 – 48 hours.
Residents of Vanuatu were advised to keep tuned to their radios so
they could monitor the situation. The next update would be given at
6.00pm. I advised the owner
of our flats (Gerard) about the tropical depression and Gerard and Malone
the gardener spent the afternoon finishing the new cyclone shutters they
had started making for the main bedroom window of our apartment.
|
| 3.00pm |
Geoff
tried to arrange contents insurance for our new computer, which we had
just received that weekend, and for the small number of personal items we
had brought over from Australia. Unfortunately
once a depression is identified insurance companies will not allow any new
policies, which include cyclone
cover.
|
| 6.00pm |
Radio
Vanuatu broadcast that at 5.00pm, Vanuatu Meteorology advised that the
tropical depression was continuing to develop.
It was currently moving in a south-easterly direction, which would
carry it closer to Vanuatu.
|
|
Tuesday
27 February 2001
|
| 11.00am |
The
tropical depression was upgraded to a cyclone.
Cyclone Paula was born. Residents
were now advised to track the path of the cyclone on the
‘cyclone-tracking map’ located in the front of their telephone book
and familiarize themselves with cyclone procedures.
|
| 6.00pm |
Radio
Vanuatu advised that Cyclone Paula was continuing to develop and move in a
south-easterly direction. Its
position at 5.00pm was D3 on the tracking map, approximately 120km west of
Torres Islands moving at 12 knots per hour.
click
on the map to see the location
|
|
Wednesday
28 February 2001
|
| 6.00am |
Cyclone
Paula was now located at F5, 60km west of Big Bay on the Island of Santo.
Paula was continuing to develop and follow its previous course.
It would reach Efate sometime this evening.
At this stage the sun was still shining, there were scattered
showers and small gusts of wind. We
hopped on the Internet to look at the latest satellite photos of the
cyclone and printed off copies for the boys to take to school.
|
| 7.00am |
We
carried the trampoline onto the balcony, positioned it behind the balcony
wall and turned it upside down to minimize the risk of it being blown
about in the wind. The
trampoline was our biggest concern. If
the wind did lift it, it could do a lot of damage.
|
| 7.30am |
Geoff
and the boys headed off for work and school.
|
| 8.00am |
Gerard and Malone started placing cyclone shutters beside the
balcony windows of each of the apartments in our block. (Gerard and his
wife Teena have been in Vanuatu through 20 cyclone seasons and their
experience is that the wind always comes across the lagoon.
So they felt it unnecessary to put the shutters on the other side
of the building where the boys bedrooms are located.)
|
| 9.00am |
Rang
my friend Karen, whose husband manages Le Lagon resort, to see if she was
still able to meet for coffee downtown this morning.
“No problem we’ve been through these before, it will probably
just blow past.”
|
| 9.30am |
The wind continued to increase but the weather still seemed too
mild to believe that a cyclone could possibly be closing in on us.
(Aren’t cyclones preceded by days of heavy rain?)
Next I began lifting boxes off the floor and moving things away
from windows and doors facing the direction the wind was predicted to come
from. Then Leiman (our
house girl) and I cleared everything off the balcony.
We moved the BBQ into our bedroom and the outdoor table and chairs
into the lounge room.
|
|
9.45am |
I
removed all our photos, magnets and pictures from the fridge, as they were
being sucked off by the gusts of wind, every time we opened the door.
|
| 10.00am |
A big gust of wind flipped the cyclone shutters against one of the
balcony columns causing a split across one of them.
(Is this a good sign? Are
these going to be strong enough?)
|
| 10.10am |
Karen
arrived to take me down town. I
said goodbye to Leiman and tried to convince her to stay the night at our
place, instead of her corrugated iron shack, but she declined.
She had an uncle staying with her from her island.
She didn’t want to leave him, and didn’t think he would come.
I told Leiman to go home as soon as she wanted to, so she could get
things ready at her house, and gave her a small tarpaulin to put over her
things. Karen advised me that
preparations were now in full swing at Le Lagon and many of the guests
were making enquiries about what they should do.
During the height of the cyclone the staff and guests would shelter
together in the huge ballroom. We
visited our usual coffee shop and enjoyed a lovely cuppa with scones and
cake, chatting about the cyclone, our children and school.
We noticed that some of the shops had begun putting up their
cyclone shutters.
|
| 11.15am |
Said
goodbye to Karen and went down to the library to borrow some books for us
to read over the next couple of days.
Then went to the supermarket to get some bread, batteries and
another torch. There were
long queues of people stocking up. Bumped
into some children from the boy’s school who told me that school had
been closed and everyone sent home. “Yellow
alert” had been declared. I
thought I’d better catch a bus home quick, as, if Leiman had gone, the
boys would be locked out of the house.
It was now pouring with rain and the wind was stronger.
I caught a bus and noticed as we drove up the hill that 2 of the
“rusty bucket” – inter island ferries had intentionally beached
themselves along the sheltered side of Irririki Island.
|
| 11.30am |
Arrived
home to an empty and dark house.
The cyclone shutters were now in position along the balcony windows
making the apartment very dark inside. No sign of the boys.
I decided to ring the school to find out if we were supposed to
pick them up. The school
advised me that the school bus had picked them up and they should be on
their way.
|
| 11.45am |
I was
beginning to worry about the boys when our neighbour Grant arrived to tell
me that the boys were safely at his place drinking coke.
Upon arriving home, to an empty and locked house, Simon had decided
they should knock on Grant’s door to seek refuge from the wind and rain.
I rang Geoff to tell him the boys were home, and to find out what
his movements would be. Geoff,
along with the PWD staff, had spent the morning moving computers and
furniture away from windows and wrapping everything up in plastic.
The PWD has no cyclone shutters and his louvered windows faced the
direction of the wind. He
advised me he would be home once he had finished and I asked him to pick
up some more bread and juice, milk, extra candles and another hurricane
lantern, just in case. He
said he would pick up some movies to watch.
|
| 12.00pm |
The
wind and rain were continuing to gain strength.
Coconuts and small branches began falling from the trees in our
garden. I began filling all
the empty cordial bottles I had been collecting over the last few months
with drinking water. I missed
the latest cyclone update but assumed it must be heading towards Malekula
by now.
|
| 1.00pm |
It is
now absolutely pouring. Water
has already started to drip from above the French doors, despite the fact
that we are on the ground floor with another apartment above us.
Placed a bucket and some towels on the floor to catch the drips.
|
| 1.30pm |
Jodi
Cornish of AVI rang to see how we were going. We had been keeping
her up to date via email about the cyclone. She had been trying to
ring around the volunteers to see how they were. Communications with
Santo were out but we were able to advise her on the status of other
volunteers we had been in contact with. |
| 2.00pm |
Geoff
arrived home with supplies from the shops including a big block of
chocolate. (Geoff will use
any excuse to get some chocolate.)
We moved the computer desk away from the window and lifted the UPS
and power leads up off the floor. We
sat the boys down to watch “Chicken Run” video while we sorted out
what else we needed to do.
|
| 2.30pm |
We
braved the wind and rain to put the cyclone shutters up on the dining room
window. This is the window
next to the computer. I was
worried about flying branches smashing the glass if the wind changed
direction.
|
| 3.00pm |
Latest radio update based on 2 pm readings placed the cyclone at
G6, 16 km off the Island of Malekula.
Speed 15knots wind gusts of up to 70knots (Hurricane Force Winds).
Efate had been experiencing Gale Force Winds of 40knots in the
morning, but was now experiencing Storm Force Gusts around 50knots, which
would increase to Hurricane Force as the cyclone approached.
It was advised that the cyclone would pass over or near Port Vila
sometime between 6.00pm and midnight.
News from Santo was that an 18-year-old youth was missing at sea
after attempting to rescue his canoe from the raging waters.
click on the map to see the location |
| 4.30pm |
Started
cooking dinner and noticed through the kitchen window that Gerard’s
house girl was setting off to walk home.
Gerard was out at his cattle ranch battening down the hatches
there. I jumped in the car
and drove her to her house as I felt it too dangerous for her to be walking out in
the strong winds. She was
very grateful. I noticed it
seemed even windier in the area where she lived.
There were still lots of local people walking the streets trying to
get home to their families. Most
were soaked to the skin as it was pointless using umbrellas as the strong
wind just turned them inside out.
|
| 5.30pm |
Decided
that, as the cyclone was going to pass quite close to Port Vila, a change
of wind direction was likely. So
it would be good to place the remaining cyclone shutters on the boy’s
windows. Once again we braved
the wind and rain, and tried not to walk too close to any of the coconut
trees, which were dropping coconuts like bombs.
|
| 6.00pm |
Sat
down to eat dinner and listen to the Radio Australia news broadcast on
Radio Vanuatu. Cyclone Paula
rampaging through the Island’s of Vanuatu was the lead story, so we
thought all our friends and family in Australia would now know our plight
and begin to worry. We were
getting frustrated that the cyclone position reports were now over three
hours old and no indication was being given as to what side or part of
Efate it was expected to cross.
|
| 6.15pm |
The
phone rang. We thought it
would be Geoff’s folks ringing after hearing about the cyclone on the
news. Instead it was a
friend, Phil Sheen, ringing to confirm dates for his family’s visit in
April. He didn’t know about
the cyclone let alone that it was practically on our doorstep.
Phil was on his way to a prayer meeting at our old church in
Singleton and promised that they would pray for us, and the people of
Vanuatu.
|
| 6.30pm |
Finally
received an updated cyclone report. At
5.00pm Paula was located at the top right hand corner of G7, just to the
west of Emae Island. Efate is
located in square H7. If it
continued in the same direction we estimated it would cross very close to
Emao Island (where Leiman’s family lives) and Onesua and Epao where some
of our AVI teachers are based. At
the speed it was now travelling Paula would pass to the east of us some
time between 9.00pm and midnight. We
hopped onto the Internet for a final check of the satellite photos.
Click on the map to see the location
|
| 7.00pm |
Shared
family devotions. Today’s
reading from Phil 4 vs. 6 …..
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in
everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your
requests to God. And the
peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts
and minds in Christ Jesus.”……
it was a very relevant reading as we were able to talk with the boys about
not worrying about the cyclone and trusting that God would look after us.
We prayed for the safety of our friends and people out in the
villages and Islands who didn’t have strong houses to shelter in.
|
| 7.30pm |
The
sound of the wind was so loud now that we had to close the kitchen and
bathroom windows to help block out the sound.
|
| 7.50pm |
Latest
radio update reported cyclone coming closer, could possibly hit Efate.
While the boys had a quick bath, we moved Jeremy’s bed away from
his window. Once the
boys were in bed I refilled the bath with more water for cooking and
washing. With the
cyclone shutters on their windows in place and the rest of the windows on
that side of the house now shut, it was very quiet in the boys’
bedrooms. They went off to
sleep almost straight away. We
thought about watching the other DVD Geoff had borrowed, but a momentary
surge in the power triggered the alarm on the UPS, so we thought it best
not to risk it.
|
| 8.45pm |
Geoff’s
folks rang from Australia to see how we were.
They had heard about the cyclone via our emails.
A quick peak out the kitchen window revealed the branches on the
coconut trees in our garden at complete right angles to the trunks.
The radio began to advise people living in the villages, to
evacuate to schools and churches, which would afford them better
protection.
|
| 9.00pm |
We
began to place towels under the balcony doors and windows as water was
beginning to come through. The
force of the wind was driving the rain horizontally through any gaps that
remained. The sound of heavy
objects moving could be heard from outside.
We hoped it was Lesley moving things upstairs and not the
trampoline shifting on the balcony.
|
| 9.15pm |
We
rang Lesley to see how she was going.
She was fine. The
noises we had heard, were her moving her table against her French doors,
which had started to groan with the pressure of the wind.
The wind started to blow our towels away from the doors and Geoff
had to place some chairs against them to hold them in place.
After disconnecting all our electrical items, we tried to relax and
read books and the newspaper while still listening to the radio, but it
was hard to maintain concentration. At times,
the radio reception was breaking up with static, making it difficult to
listen to.
|
| 10.00pm |
The
lights flickered and the radio went dead for a few minutes.
I lit some candles and made sure I had my torch within easy reach.
Finally the radio came back on and announced that the cyclone was
still to the north of Efate. We
figured it was only going to get worse and as the power was likely to go
off any time now we may as well retire to bed and try to read there.
Set some candles up in our room and tried to read as the wind and
rain lashed the shutters on our room.
|
| 10.30pm |
Gave
up trying to read. Switched
off the lights and turned off the radio.
We may as well try to get some sleep.
|
| Later |
We
must have drifted off to sleep before the cyclone passed.
We later learned, that sometime during the night, the power went
off for about half an hour.
I remember waking at some stage and noticing that the wind and rain
had died down and wondered in a half doze if it was the eye of the storm
before dropping back to sleep.
|
|
Thursday
1 March 2001
|
| 6.00am |
Simon
woke us with the news that water was dripping from the ceiling fan in the
lounge room. Got up to find
water on the floor in our bedroom and a huge puddle extended out from the
French doors across the lounge room.
The drips from the fan had soaked the coffee table, resulting in
books, a tissue box and CD getting wet.
(Apparently the drainage holes on Lesley’s balcony had blocked
with debris causing a huge build up of water, which leaked into our
ceiling cavity. Fortunately
it had not leaked above the computer).
We were amazed and thrilled to find we still had power telephone and water.
|
| 6.15am |
We
ventured outside for a quick tour of the gardens to survey the damage.
There was very little rain or wind now.
Cyclone Paula had come quickly and left just as quickly, but she
had certainly left her mark. The
ground was covered in leaves, branches and fallen fruit.
It had the appearance as though someone had gone wild with a giant
whipper snipper. Leaves and
branches still remained bent at strange angles (and would do so for some
time). The angle of the
leaves revealed that the wind had actually swung right around during the
night as the cyclone passed. Our
garden had not suffered as badly as our neighbours’ gardens where huge
trees had toppled everywhere.
|
| 6.30am |
I
began to mop up a bucket load of water from the lounge room floor and in
our bedroom. Carried all the
soaking wet towels out to the washing machine to be washed.
Geoff hopped on the Internet and checked to see the current
position of the cyclone and sent some emails home to let folks know we
were okay.
|
| 7.00am |
Quickly
ate a light breakfast, as we were keen to get in the car and see how
Leiman, Geoff’s office and the church and our friends at Malapoa had
gone. The boys loaded some of
the fallen fruit into the back of the car to give to Leiman.
We set off down the road dodging around fallen trees.
|
| 7.30am |
Leiman’s
house was fine, just some water inside.
Everyone at her place was busy raking up debris.
On the harbour one yacht had sunk in front of the Market House,
leaving only the tip of the mast visible above the water.
Another was washed up onto the rocks in front of the Rossi
Restaurant, two could be seen washed ashore on Irririki Island and one on
Malapoa point. Devastating
for the owners, as insurance companies sometimes won’t insure their
boats during the cyclone season. Boats,
that had remained at their moorings, looked a little worse for wear, some
had shredded sails. The sea
was still very choppy with waves crashing ashore where normally it is
perfectly still. In town many
big trees had blown down and work crews had already been busy with
chainsaws and bush knives clearing a path for vehicles to pass.
Everywhere we drove it was clear that all the food gardens had been
devastated. Damage to
buildings though appeared minimal. Drove
to the church at Malapoa. Everything
was fine. They had removed
the roof from the lean-to at the back of the building before the cyclone
hit, otherwise the iron would have probably been torn loose.
We were surprised at the number of houses we could see on the hills
behind which normally were hidden from view by thick vegetation.
The Presbyterian Church next door had lost part of its roof.
Visited Geoff’s work and could see no broken windows so Geoff
told them he would clean up at home first and then come in after lunch.
|
| 9.00am |
Returned
home to have a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs.
All that nervous energy of the last 24 hours had left us starving.
Then it was time to start cleaning up.
We pulled down the shutters to let in some air and light.
The boys started sweeping up the piles of leaves and branches on
the balcony. The
trampoline had not budged an inch. While
Geoff cleaned up the kitchen I threw the towels and our wet clothes into
the washing machine. We
opened up all the windows and turned the ceiling fans in the bedrooms on
high to help dry everything out. Wet
books were placed on chairs under the fans to dry.
Radio Vanuatu announced that all teachers and government workers
should firstly ensure that their houses were safe and tidied up before
reporting to work in the afternoon to clean up their offices/classrooms.
There would be no school until the grounds had been made safe.
|
|
Aftermath
|
|
 |
The
local newspaper on the following Saturday informed us that the 18 year
old youth who had been lost at sea off Santo, had been found alive
clinging to a rock. What a miracle! |
|
Unfortunately,
falling branches, on the islands of Epi and Ambae, killed two people. |
|
Many
traditional houses in the village areas lost their roofs or were
completely destroyed leaving people sleeping in churches and other
building until repairs could be made. |
|
Perhaps
the biggest blow was the destruction of most of the food gardens
throughout Vanuatu. Although
for the first few weeks there was plenty of fallen fruit to eat, it
would be months before some crops bore fruit and vegetables again.
This not only hurt the economy but left many people hungry and
dependant upon expensive imported foods.
The full impact of Cyclone Paula was to be seen in the months
that followed.
(Unfortunately
just as the food gardens were beginning to recover we suffered from a
second tropical cyclone, Sose that once again destroyed the crops.) |
|
We
were so fortunate that, although Cyclone Paula travelled down the
length of Vanuatu, crossing from left to right just to the north of
Efate, the eye of the cyclone did not pass over very much land.
It passed closest to Malekula where the bridge linking the
north and south of the island was destroyed.
The cyclone also came and went very quickly without prolonged
heavy rainfall. If it had
rained for several days previous even more trees would have been lost
in the incredibly strong winds. The
sunny weather on the days following the cyclone also aided in the
drying out of water damaged goods and minimized the growth of mould. |
|
The
eye of the cyclone passed within 35 nautical miles of Port Vila where
we live, we thank God for his protection and pray for the people of
Vanuatu as they rebuild and replant in the months ahead. |
|
. . .
in Vanuatu
