When we retired for the night we were told to expect some wind and rain from the cyclone but no more. However at 5 a.m. we were awoken by other campers packing up and leaving! Cyclones it seems are unpredictable and it was now expected to cross Carnarvon as a category 3. By 7 a.m. we would be on red alert which means you must stay put wherever you are. We were advised that the best thing would be to head for the evacuation centre in town.
Once there, the doors were firmly shut at 7 a.m. and we had to stay there until the all-clear was announced. We could only hear the cyclone as it was a windowless building, but it sounded like a jet engine. We lost power, but the emergency lighting kicked in until the batteries ran flat. So then we couldn’t even see to read and our phone batteries were flat, so we had nothing to do but sit and wait.
By late evening, the worst of the wind had died down but we were expected to be on red alert until the morning due to floods, debris and fallen power lines. Fortunately we managed to persuade them to let us out to sleep in our van in the car park.
So, the following day, we are still stuck in Carnarvon as most roads are closed and there is still no power. This means that we can’t get fuel, the shops are shut and there is no water pressure.
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