I’ve was never so scared

It was Thursday, the 26th November 2009, a storm warning was issued for Melbourne, I had been talking to people about a dust storm and then decided to check the BOM site for weather warnings. A storm warning had been issued, and no sooner had I sighted the warning, than it was upon us.

I rang my daughter, she is about 30km further north than where I am located and told me that she was okay but thinks the house had taken a direct lightening hit, as the door frames had turned blue and although she was shaken, she was okay. It was absolutely bucketing and windy. She was hanging up the phone to mop up the water that had entered the house. I was unsure as to how the water had entered to house. That was the least of my concerns.

I tried to ring back some 5-10 minutes later to check how everything was going and there was no answer. Tried the mobile. No answer. My heart is in my mouth. I’m sure as a parent – you are feeling worried also.

Ringing, ringing, ringing, no answer. Getting more worried as the seconds tick past. Start ringing the neighbours. No answer there either, start ringing the mobiles. No answer. I am seeing my house going up in smoke, with the neighbours trying to rescue my daughter.

I hit the panic button and ring my husband, telling him to get home NOW. There is no answer on any phones, the neighbours aren’t answering, the house was flooded. My imagination is running well and truly in overdrive.

Can’t leave work, the nation-wide servers have crashed, the phone system is down. Everyone is panicking!

Finally people from the street start calling/texting. Daughter is okay, the house is fine. 50mm of rain in 15 minutes,. Nothing could be heard apparently. Landlines are down, minor flooding, not sure about the roof, but daughter is alive.

(I had images of her, laying on the floor in a pool of water, dead)

By the time I get home, some 5 hours later, water cleaned up, roof not holed, one landline down, the other the only working one in the street. Neighbours are queuing up to use the phone to report the faults. It’s now Monday mod-morning and still no landlines, or internet.

But everyone is alive and well

(Update - phones re-instated Tuesday, apparently the lightening literally fried the wires in the ground, only left strands not bundles of wires! Still no strike site visible, but was extremely close)