Cyclone Larry

20 years ago

While Innisfail copped the full brunt of Cyclone Larry, here in Cairns we were not exactly unscathed. Some unroofed houses, wrecked gardens and destroyed rainforest was the usual outcome and there were a few occasions that put the fear of God into us. Anyway, here are a few pictures.

At about 9 o'clock in the morning I plucked up enough courage to get this shot

This was once a lawn and garden. The large tree in the background that was covered in a three year old Mucuna novo-guineesis vine has now succumbed. Heliconias, gingers and numerous other fragile tropicals has all been trashed.

The entire fronds of 3 Cuban Royal Palms ended up in the pool along with a ton of leaf litter that looked like it had been put through a mulcher. For days later the pool had the consistency of rich, green, vegetable soup.

A shot from our front verandah. Prior to the cyclone all trees in the rainforest were the same height as the remaining one, shown here. All others were severed at about 15 metres.

A street scene - our frontage road.

This is pretty typical of the southern suburbs of Cairns. The big clean-up began on Monday afternoon and now, everyone has a massive pile of vegetation on their street frontage waiting for Council collection.

I haven't had the heart to go down to Innisfail but hopefully there will be a chance to help, through Red Cross, later this week.

There has been some newspaper talk about people whinging about the lack of help, but I haven't seen any evidence of that. Just people quietly going about trying to re-build their lives.

Grant

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Comments (11)

ashmeri
20 years ago
Greg, the damage is quite unimagineable here. Just to see the pictures of your garden and the forest surrounding it shows just how powerful and frightening, mother nature can be
. My Brother in Innisfail, had a church Hall blow onto the top of his house, crushing it, they just managed to get outside.
Now he says, kind of jokingly, that he has a good view of the Johnstone River he never had before since all the large trees have just been blown away.
He says the media like to find those with a few words against whatever, but most of the people are digging in and making the very best of things that they can and are greatful for all the help that is coming their way.
It will be a long time for things to be normal again though.
Marion
User
20 years ago
Yes it is terrible and I feel so sorry for everyone and you know Grant people down south have no idea what it is like to live through a Cyclone its terrifying the wind is the worse the night C.Justin hit Townsville I sat huddled in the middle of our house in the passage scared stiff..Earlier when it was still a little light and not so windy hubby and I tried to drive star pickets into the soil so we could tie the trees to them, but the wind got so bad that when a sheet of roofing iron flew over from next door and sliced one of the banana palms we decided life is too precious..

I guess all we can do for our northern neighbours here down south is dig deeper into our pockets and offer help when it is needed which Aussies are very good at, and hope and pray that it wont take too long for things to get back to the way they were before..I am sorry your garden is in a mess nature can be very cruel at times, but by next summer maybe sooner you will look at your garden and see just how beautiful it is..and all of this will be a distant memory......Cheers...MM.
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Thanks Inga. I've never been to Hong Kong, that info was just some of the stuff I've picked up over the years. Gary, we don't have Cassowarys here, they're only on the north east coast (plus a couple of species in New Guinea). They can be dangerous and have that reputation. But there are urban areas in rainforest environments where the birds are commonly seen wandering about the streets and through home gardens. The rainforest there can be very dense so they go head down and hard to get through, hence the development of the "armour" on the head. And that has become a defence mechanism capable of inflicting a lot of damage. They also have big claws on their feet. But because of them living amongst people without too much trouble, apart from them being hit by cars, they're not considered a big problem. Behaviour like that of the one you saw in the zoo is on the extreme and is probably the result of bad treatment at some stage. In any case, it's hard to say, you never know what the bird has experienced. They rely on rainforest fruits so after cyclones they can starve until the forests begin to recover. After Cyclones Larry and Yasi people were putting food out to get them through but this encouraged a lot more of them into the urban areas and stay permanently. Now days walking trails in those areas have signs with advice on appropriate behaviour when encountering Cassowarys. I've never been concerned when walking in those areas but have never encountered any. Although, have probably walked past many that ignored me but I didn't see because of the dense jungle.
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wollemia_TC
20 years ago
Yes, it has been a sad time but fortunately the human cost is negligable. I have lived in Innisfail and Babinda, and used to have a beach property at Kurramine Beach, so the area worst hit is all familiar to me. Happily the old friends I have been in touch with have suffered only from loss of public amenities, now restored.
Tony
paradisi
20 years ago
grant_fnq - put a list up of what you need replaced - you never know some of us southerners may have plants or cutting sor seeds to help you out

good luck

tony
Wooroonooran
20 years ago
Hi Grant, yes I have been super busy since TC Larry, Im based on the southern end of the A Tablelands now, I have been involved in the clean up- I was down at Innisfail yesterday and have been doing work in the Palmerston area- It is absolutely terrifying what the cyclone has done to the rainforest within the path of the strongest winds- I was in in Innisfail yesterday and Cairns today- Cairns felt nothing on the Babinda- Innisfail -Millaa Millaa -Atherton area. As I said the rainforest is hammered- It simply has been and nothing short of it.
Keep well from Kris
Grant_fnq
Original Author
20 years ago
Good to hear from you Kris. Interseting to see you are back in the North again. Obviously it has got into your blood. I agree with you on the destruction of that fabulous rainforest in the Mission Beach, Bartle Frere, Ravenshoe triangle. It is heartbreaking to see, but it has happened before and will be interesting to see how long before it recovers. I have seen all sorts of dire predictions from 50 - 200 years, but from prior experience the regeneration, at least on a superficial level, can be fairly fast. What do you think?

Thanks for the suggestion, Tony, regarding replacement plants. I think it will be a while before I am able to do any re-planting. It will be chainsaw gardening for me over the next few weeks.
Grant
artiew
20 years ago
Hi Glen,

I accept that you have chosen to live in an extremely beautiful part of the world, but surely you knew it was a cyclone risk when you planted your garden ?

At the risk of alienating the rest of the board, I'm going to make a couple of predictions:

- the rainforest will be back (barring any further storm damage) within 3-4 years. Whether its 'the same' as old timers remember it, I cant say.

- there will be more cyclones - more frequent and potentially more deadly - along the Qld coast over the next 50 years as global warming intensifies

- people will continue to appear completely unprepared for nature's fury - no insurance, no stockpile of food and water, no disaster plan - for as long the community accepts that this is somehow 'natural' and acceptable.

I say all this with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, from the comfort of my lounge in Rocky, but this wasnt the Asian Tsunami. The citizens of Innisfail had at least 24 hours warning that a Cat 4 cyclone (later Cat 5) was bearing down on their town (from memory, they knew it was in the Coral Sea at least a week prior). The media maintains that many had become complacent because previous predictions had resulted in little more than strong wind and heavy rain, and that looked like being repeated in the eerily quite hours leading up to Larry's arrival.

The latest from Innisfail is that the Mayor has a new problem on his hands - the huge influx of donated goods/food/water has meant that businesses in the town arent able to get back on their feet. I accept that losing one's home must be completely devastating, but many of the people interviewed by the media were, IMO, welfare cases long before the cyclone. As for reports of fruit pickers taking the $1000 'grant' and leaving town, hopefully karma will catch up with them. The Queensland spirit *did* make the news, but it seems that (now homeless) people who consider others 'worse off than me' dont make as much impact as those who cry out for food and water 24 hours after the storm. When you've waded through child beggars in different parts of Asia, seeing people queue outside a Coles supermarket doesnt quite have the same impact.
My own 'mean-spirited' nature hasnt stopped me from participating in fund-raising efforts for the victims of cyclone Larry, but there is a vested interest inherent in that choice. Whether I personally agree with the wisdom of rebuilding a town on a bullseye or not, the people of Innisfail (and the other towns mentioned earlier) intend rebuilding their town, and that costs money. In good years, bananas and sugar return money into the Qld economy, and some of that money makes its way into my pocket. I'm also one of the mugs who gave money to help rebuild Darwin after Tracey, but I havent seen anything in the media about contributions from other states.

Finally, and I'm sure this has flashed through all our minds, if it's going to take several hundred million dollars to get a...
macbirch
20 years ago
Dad worked on a cane farm near Tully one season many years ago. He has very fond memories of that time. When DH and I holidayed in Cairns twenty years ago we hired a car and drove around the area. I cry when I watch the news. Still trying to figure out what to do to help. Someone's organised a collection point for groceries outside a local supermarket but is trucking groceries all the way from Canberra really that helpful. Interesting point Artie about such things adversely affecting local businesses. Questions have been raised after previous disaster fundraising appeals whether the money is distributed quickly enough and to the right people. Times like this I think how great it would be to be a millionaire. Identify something like a medical centre or school that needs to be rebuilt, get quotes, write a cheque, and know for sure that what you did helped. For now I'm just saying a prayer every night (also for WA). Does anyone know what happened to Paronella Park? It was just starting to be restored when we were there and I was so happy to see it on a travel show a few years ago.

Best wishes Grant and everyone up there.
ari_wh
20 years ago
Grant,

I know exactly how you felt seeing your beautiful garden getting destroyed in just a few hours. We went through it last year with Ingrid and I have to say don't want to go through it ever again. I just remembered cleaning and hard-pruning my garden in tears after Ingrid.

But, after a year of hard work again, our garden was better (not back to normal, of course) but things started to grow back and flowering again. Of course, now that we are in Darwin (we moved here 6 months ago), we have to start over again.

It will be all worth it.

Regards, Ari :)
annie_____
20 years ago
I'm just so grateful that I live here in Brisbane. I can't imagine just losing everything like that. I'm terribly afraid I'd be one of those people who just sit there and cry....pioneer stock, I'm not.
All the best, Grant and try to think of it as a chance to redesign your garden...you know you always wanted ....dare I say it?....a water feature in the corner (a la Jamie Drurie?).
I don't have a lot of tropicals but you're welcome to any cuttings from any of what I do have.
When you get the chance, don't forget that list.
cheers and best wishes,
Annie
alisonoz_gw
20 years ago
I pity you the mess Grant, but you will get there. And I guess in time your garden will recover and the rainforests too. You will probably make some good observations along the way, about what survived and how things regenerated, all very useful in info for gardeners and botanists for the future, here and in other tropical areas.
Good luck from me also.

Cyclone Larry

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