Lynne Farry from Rockhampton talks about the club’s experiences during Cyclone Marcia.
On Friday 20th February, 2015 Cyclone Marcia hit the coastal strip near Shoalwater Bay, just north of Byfield and Yeppoon. Shoalwater Bay is where the army exercise Talisman Sabre happens every second year with the American Marines, Army and Air Force. The warship USS George Washington is heading there now.
We lost power where I live at about 11.30am on the Friday morning, with pretty strong winds blowing and the rain coming down. Our club is situated in the Botanical Gardens so there are many big old trees around us. Unfortunately many of them did not survive the big blow.
We ended up with two hoop pines on top of our equipment shed, also our shade sail between the clubhouse and our large under cover awning was ripped to shreds. When we went to have a look after cyclone had passed we could not get into premises as a large tree had been blown down across our entrance gate, and power lines were down.
We could only access our premises through the tennis courts above us. Our lawns were covered with debris of trees, shrubs and anything else that was flying around in the air. We were not able to access as it was deemed too dangerous, as some trees were still leaning. We finally gained access on the 17th March.
The lawns were cleared but had not received any water on them in this time. They were full of weed. Thank goodness we were insured, as I know some clubs aren’t. We now have a new equipment shed, new shade sail, and most of repairs are done. At our gateball competition visitors mentioned how good our lawns looked, thanks to our male members. Of course the ladies did their bit as well!