Wild Weather

The last 10 days or so have seen some wild weather in and around Armidale, rounding off what has been a fairly wet year so far. This time last year, we were in a serious drought and had major water use restrictions. This time we have streams running strongly, dams full, and - as I reported a week or so ago - parts of out town were hit by a tornado that seriously damaged some buildings at the University of New England and in town.

This post reflects on some of these events.

While out for an evening walk a week or so ago I headed for the Armidale Apex Lookout. Facing east I saw this large jet-black thunderstorm depositing yet more rain on our landscape. A few days later I went for an afternoon drive and looked at Malpas Dam, which stores Armidale's domestic water supply. As you can see, the dam is now full instead of the c. 30% capacity last year. Indeed, because of recent rain, water was being released for downstream flow.

And here's another view over the landscape c. 30 km north of Armidale. Normally, at the weekend, the dam would be full of yachts and other boating craft, but some reason I can only guess at the surface was devoid of any craft on this occasion.

Yesterday, a little over a week after our tornado, I went out to see if my office on campus at UNE was undamaged - much of the university now being opened up for business. Well, my office and building housing it looked fine. But imagine my consternation when I observed that several old adjacent mostly old timber buildings had either been destroyed or badly damaged. I sometimes walk past them, but was glad I wasn't around on the day the tornado hit us!

 

I wonder how UNE is going to recover from the damage shown here.

AS

Armidale Tornado

 This is my first post in perhaps 6 weeks. Forgive me for no posting BLOGS in which Dot and I are bored stiff by lockdowns and inability to go to interesting places.

However, yesterday we saw the outcome of an astonishing event ... the first tornado in Armidale during the 50 years I've lived here. On Thursday evening (14th October) we experienced a massive storm with thunder and lightening and powerful winds at about 10 pm ... just before we went to bed. Our electricity was cut off instantly and we raced to unearth our solar-powered torches which we keep charged for such events. And so to bed. 

Well, I rose at about 6.30 am as usual and noticed immediately something strange. There was still no electricity, without which we had no radio or television or internet. However, attention to my mobile phone yielded news that Armidale had, during that storm experienced a tornado. After a quick brekky I jumped in my car and headed for my University of New England office where I knew I'd get internet connectivity. That didn't work because UNE was shut down and people were not allowed to enter buildings on campus. But one thing I noticed was some destruction of timber buildings on campus - as shown below, so it looked like the tornado had gone through there. 

I searched for more evidence of damage in town, but couldn't find any. Then a good friend phoned me saying that north Armidale - where we live - also experienced damage from the tornado. Before, heading there, however, I went down town to see if all of Armidale was without electricity. However, the shopping centre was alive and well. Going home in dismay - why just us with no electricity ? - I noticed the traffic lights near us were out. I parked our car at home and went for a walk to see if any damage occurred. Well, the first thing I noticed was a nearby street shut down for a good reason. the roadway was adorned with broken power-lines - see below - which explains our lack of juice!

Walking a little further I saw some real damage - especially trees and branches scattered across gardens and roadways, coupled with occasional oddities like strips of metal hanging from poles.

After a while, I gave up searching for damage and I thought it mostly minor as most houses still had undamaged roofs unlike the wreckage we often see in Texas and states up the Mississippi valley. Eventually I found I could use my laptop free of charge at our council's HQ and investigated my usual c. 60 emails I use each day. That done, I headed home to discover that 14 hours after the tornado we had power back and life could return to normal .... well, sort of. It was only during the evening news broadcasts that I heard of much greater damage to property than I'd been able to find.  

So, early this morning I went for a walk around our district to see if I could find evidence of major damage. And I sure did! Turning down Watson avenue (no, we don't have a Sherlock avenue) I began to see roof damage - the next 3 pictures. If, you like go to Google maps and key in the names of the roads I mention.

Then I turned south into Worrell Place and the damage began to look more severe - see the next 3 pictures. This, by the way, is one of the routes I take in my regular afternoon walks.

I kept walking to a green corridor I also often traverse. This was an attempt to get a different perspective on the tornado's trajectory. Well, the next two pictures show a lot of tree and vegetation damage.

Turning off the corridor into Joan Plaza ... please don't ask me who Joan was ... I was stunned to see much more profound damage to property, as shown in the next 3 pictures. The street was crowded with council staff and local residents trying to clean up their neighborhood's mess and move treasured belongings out of their homes.

At the point where Watson Avenue joins Joan Plaza lies the house where a long-term university colleague of mine - Jim Walmsley - lives. I rang his doorbell to see how he survived the event, but there was no-one at home. Fortunately for him, the property damage was confined to the south side of Watson Avenue. Luckily, all Jim had to deal with was a few cut tree branches. I then walked back to Chestnut Avenue to see if any properties there received major damage - see the next 3 pictures. Well, there was a little roof damage to some house, but the main problem seemed to be fallen trees and heaps of guys with chainsaws were cutting branches and even trunks to put into a shredding machine that sent small pieces of timber into the truck shown in the next two pictures.

And here's my final picture of roof damage. This is a recently constructed large home and I feel sorry for the residents.

 Alas, tornado's are not known for their special selectivity. Well, let's hope that tornados are not associated with global warming and that we are likely not to have another one in the next 50 years, which I might survive given rapidly increasing longevity. 

AS