All Alone - 7. Alo Chapter 7

“Where do you want us to bunk down for the night?” Matt asked me, “Oh just anywhere outside will be fine” I said seriously and both of them looked shocked at me and I burst out laughing, “You can set up camp in my guest bedroom, which is empty, just grab your beds and mattresses, and I suggest that you bring everything of your belongings, as the boss says, that the staff and guest accommodation may not last the cyclone” I added.

I went to take Angus for a walk and was surprised to find cyclone shutters secured to the outside top 2/3rd of my balcony, with the bottom railing remaining uncovered. Taking a closer look, I saw that the shutters had thin slots in them, about 30cm apart, to let air through, and I guessed this was to reduce the wind pressure.

Leading Angus through the building and exiting through the front door, I took my dog for a long walk, just as the rain was getting a little heavier, but it was a warm rain, so it didn’t worry me too much about getting soaked, and I think Angus was enjoying it.

The jeep passed by with it loaded up with suitcases and mattresses, with a thin tarpaulin covering it, to keep the rain off, and they passed me again, heading back to their quarters to get another load of belongings.

By the time we arrived back at the centre, the sky was quite dark, with heavy clouds and now constant rain, and strong winds. I was drying off Angus, when I heard Jem on the radio, “Jeremy to all station staff, take cover for the approaching cyclone, it has changed direction and is heading straight for us, over”.

“Ok boss, we are just parking the jeep away now, and will be indoors in a moment, over” I heard Matt reply, as I walked over to the radio in the apartment, “Received that boss, we are inside and ready, good luck up there, and be careful of any flying cows, over and out” I said. Moments later, I heard Matt and Greg enter the building and lock the front door, both were laughing, and I presumed it was about my last comment on the radio.

“Flying cows? I think someone has been watching to many tornado movies” Matt commented as he and his brother entered the apartment, having closed the hallway door into the shop, on the way through. I just grinned, as I looked back down at my laptop computer screen, which was showing a satellite image of the tracking of the cyclone, and I was beginning to worry. Greg walked over to the stereo and turned it on, which I already had tuned into the local ABC channel, that broadcasts emergency warnings.

“Tropical Cyclone Burt is now a category four system, located 218kilometres north-north-west of Carnarvon, and due west of Coral Bay, travelling at 18 km’s per hour, in a southerly direction, and is now expected to cross the coast, anywhere between Lake McCleod and Wooramel River from late tonight to Wednesday evening. A flood watch is current for the Gascoyne, Wooramel and Murchison Rivers.

The North West Coastal Highway, and all sealed and gravel roads leading off it, are now closed to all traffic -northbound from the Overlander Roadhouse and Shark Bay Road turnoff, and southbound, from Nanutarra Roadhouse, all residents in this area are instructed to get indoors and remain under shelter until the cyclone has fully passed, and the all clear has been given”.

Greg turned the volume down low, as music started to be played, and he walked over to the lounge and sat down next to his brother. “Oh man, I have been through a couple of small cyclones, but nothing as big as this one” Matt said with a worried look on his face. “Don’t worry, we will be safe here, the boss had this built especially too handle strong cyclones, so no need to worry” I said to reassure them both.

Angus jumped up onto my lap and started to whine, and I stroked his head to calm him down. Greg suggested that we have a marathon movie night, to keep us occupied, and said that would be fine with me, and Greg jumped up to retrieve his DVD collection. “I better warn you; he is a very keen on Star Trek and Star Wars” Matt said to me, just as the house phone rang, which was receiving diverted calls from the visitor centre.

“Hello, Coral Coast Station, Lloyd speaking” I said, and as soon as I heard the callers voice I groaned, “No sir, the cyclone has not passed yet, don’t you have a radio, it is being broadcasted every half an hour… no sir you cannot come up to the station, we are closed until the cyclone has passed us, and at the moment it is just north of us, and due west of Coral Bay… No sir the roads are not open, they are closed from Shark Bay and Overlander Roadhouse, as the rivers are flooding.

There is no way across the highway, till the water level drops” I said, answering the caller’s short questions. “Sir, the wind and rain are very heavy, and I can hardly hear you, please call back next month, we will not be open again, until the clean-up has been completed, goodbye” I said, and I ended the call quickly.

“Is that the same guy as before?” Matt asked me, and I nodded my head yes slowly, just as the phone rang again, and Matt jumped up to answer it. “Coral Coast Station, Matt speaking” he said politely, “Yes sir he is right here, just a moment” we heard Matt say, as he held out the phone in my direction, “It isn’t the last caller, it is your boss in Perth, Mr Hamilton, I think he said his name is” Matt said and I quickly jumped up to take the call.

“Sorry for the delay sir, I have had this idiot calling, wanting to come up to the station, when we are closed because of the cyclone, but he keeps on insisting on coming up, thankfully all the roads are closed now, and he won’t be able to get through, now how may I help you” I said to my boss in Perth.

“Sounds like you have your hands full up there, I just called to check that you are ok, that is all mainly, your 2IC is doing a wonderful job, and by the looks of it, she has been sending you a lot of information to look at and sign off on” my boss said to me. “Yes sir, she has been keeping me quite busy the past few days, I have been spending most evenings in the office doing paperwork for her, she is a hard task master” I replied, which made the boss laugh.

“You all stay safe up there, I hear that the cyclone is quite close to you” the boss said, “It is sir, very close, as you can probably hear from the noise outside, but we are in a very solid rammed earth building, so we will be fine, thanks for the call of concern” I replied, and after we said good bye we ended the call.

Greg had returned to the lounge and put on a DVD, which was… Watership Down, which surprised his brother, and we settled down to watch the movie, which even Angus seemed interested in watching as it had rabbits in the movie.

When the movie ended, I took Angus out to the patio, where it was very windy, and reluctantly he used the sand box for a toilet, before heading back inside, and I followed locking the door behind me, and I noticed the pressure in my ears build up as Matt rushed to his bedroom, and briefly opened then closed the window.

“I wouldn’t do that again if I was you, that pressure you felt, when you came in, was from the strong winds, you could have made the roof burst off, or all the windows to smash, because of the internal pressure” Matt said to me, “Oops sorry, I had forgotten about that” I replied, and I went down the passage way to the visitor centre shop, to check that everything was ok in there.

I had difficulties pushing the door open, and after the second try, I decided to leave it closed, and I headed back to the apartment. “I can’t get into the visitor centre, there is something blocking the door” I announced as I walked back in and shut the door behind me. “Damn” Matt said as he jumped up, opened the door and raced down the hallway, and I followed.

When I saw Matt struggle to open the office door, I realised that there was something wrong, as Matt turned and came back towards the apartment, and I did the same. “I am hoping that the shutters are still in place, and if so, it means that one of the glass windows has shattered, that is why you couldn’t open the door into the shop. Plus, I couldn’t open the door to the office, because the window between reception and your office has also shattered” Matt explained.

“That means, there will be one hell of a mess in the shop and in the office” I commented, “Yes but hopefully no or very little rain will get in, so nothing should be water damaged” Matt added, as we sat down again. The telephone rang again, and Matt stood up to answer it, “Hello” Matt said, not bothering to answer it properly, in case it is that stupid caller again.

“Hey boss, how are things on top of the hill, seen any flying cows yet?” Matt said with a big grin, which made Greg and I laugh, “Ok, boss thanks for letting us know, we have a couple of windows broken in the shop and office, but as far as we know the shutters are still in place… ok, I will let you know, bye” Matt said and he hung up the phone.

“The boss says he has tried calling on the radio, but he received no rely, so our radio tower is probably down, also the backup generator has kicked in, so that probably means, the wind turbine is down as well” Matt informed us.

“Damn, I never got around to plugging in the 3-phase connector cable, from the new generator to the building” I said suddenly remembering the chore I didn’t get around to doing.

“Maybe we can get to it if the cyclone passes right over us, when we are in the eye of the cyclone” Matt added, “Ok, how long do you think we will have” I asked, “I say about 5 minutes, or 20 minutes at the very most” Matt replied.

We sat down again to watch another movie, this time it was an old movie, “The man with no name”. I had seen the movie, but it was long ago, a black and white American Western movie, and it was quite a good movie. By the time the movie was over, the wind was really howling outside, and we could hear the roof creaking with all the wind around it. I just hoped that the roof stayed in place.

By now we were all getting quite hungry, so we headed to the kitchen to cook some dinner, but suddenly the lights went out, so after a bit of fiddling around, I located the new torches that we had bought, and I handed one to Matt, “Don’t open the fridges or freezers as we don’t know how long we will be out of power” Matt said to us, just as the power came back on, and stayed on, so we quickly cooked some dinner, and I fed Angus, before retrieving the spare sandbox and a bag of litter, which I placed in the laundry, for Angus to use for the toilet.

Just as we were sitting down to watch our third movie, there was an almighty crash and bang, that scared all of us, with Angus dashing into the laundry to take cover under the laundry sink, which has a small open cupboard under it, and I had placed a spare dog blanket in it. I checked on Angus, before going to the phone to call the boss, but there was no dial tone, so I hung up the phone again.

“We are totally cut off from the world” I said after checking my mobile and finding no mobile coverage, then the lights went out again. “I am going to call it a night, I am having a shower and going to bed, goodnight” Matt announced as he stood up, and I said good night to him as he headed to the guest bedroom. Greg and I chattered for a while till we heard Matt exiting the bathroom, and Greg said good night and went to have a shower.

I went to check on Angus who was laying under the sink, and he was shaking badly, so I picked him up and carried him to my room and lay him on my bed, as soon as I lay on the bed, be curled up close beside me for comfort, and eventually he stopped shaking. I must have fallen asleep, as I heard Matt knocking on my door, “quick, we are in the eye of the cyclone, let’s go out and check to see what that noise was, and check for damage” Matt said to me, and I jumped out of bed, still fully dressed.

I looked at my mobile, which still had no mobile coverage, but it told me that it was 11.27pm, as I followed Matt and Greg up the hallway towards the shop. I scooped up Angus, in case there is lots of glass around, and this time the door to the shop opened easily, and the torch light showed a shop that has been totally trashed.

All the cyclone grills are still in place, but there are two external windows that had smashed, and looking over to my left behind the counter, the large window between the shop and the office was no longer there.

“Lloyd, go and check your secured cupboard, there may be a…” Matt began to say, and I ended his statement, “Satellite phone there” I said as I went around the corner, and carefully opened the door into my office. I was shocked at how much of a mess there was, and not worrying about it just now, I went to the bottom drawer of my desk, and unlocked it, and there at the bottom was a fairly new Satellite phone, with the packaging box, sitting next to hit.

Picking it up, I pressed the on button and hoped that it had plenty of battery life in it, and that it was connected, the phone beeped as it powered up and soon revealed that it was fully charged and had full coverage, so I dialled the number for the other satellite phone that Jem usually keeps with him when out on the station.

“Hello, I was wondering how long it would take you to remember that you had a sat phone too” Jem said to me, and I chuckled. “Yeah sorry, it was Matt who reminded me, as we were assessing the damage in the shop, you should see the mess.

It is mostly wind damage, as the cyclone grills are still in place, it is just two external shop windows and the window between reception and my office that have shattered. Before we went to bed, there was an almighty loud crash, we are about to go and have a look while we are in the eye, and it is reasonably calm” I replied, “Ok, but be quick as it will return very suddenly, I don’t want anyone to get caught out in it, our house is fine, but the other two have been destroyed, our storage and power shed is fine” Jem replied.

“Ok I will check in again when we have done a quick survey of the damage, bye” I said and I ended the call as I followed Matt and Greg outside, and we stood there looking at what was the huge roof of the shearing shed.