Cyclone Season

These last two weeks have been fairly quiet – mainly cos they have been filled with work. My weekend on call last week turned into a non-stop operating zone with no study time so my stress levels have skyrocketed considerably.

This was not helped by the abysmal weather and the news that we were under cyclone watch by the beginning of the week. I was originally not too concerned by the cyclone watch until the public information warning started being played continuously on all the radio stations, with similar messages being sent out by email.

Apparently each household in the NT should have an emergency kit packed and ready to go (In a place that can be found if the power goes out) in the cyclone season. I think this is a great idea. Then I read what was meant to be in my emergency kit.

Your emergency kit should include:

•    Battery-operated radio with spare batteries

•    Torch with spare batteries, candles and waterproof matches

•    First Aid Kit and manual with any essential medicines that may not be found in a basic kit

•    A change of clothes for each member of the household (wind and waterproof, hats, leather gloves, strong protective closed-in shoes)

•    Blankets or sleeping bags

•    Toilet paper and essential toiletries, including sunscreen

•    Special needs for infants (food, formula, nappies, toys), the aged or people with disabilities

•    Money, including change for phone calls

•    Important family documents (birth and marriage certificates, driver's licence, passports, insurance policies and photos)

•    Strong and sealable plastic bags (for clothing, valuables, documents and photographs)

•    A mobile phone, spare battery and charger

•    Extra car and house keys

•    A copy of your household plan

•    Pet supplies

•    Non-perishable foods (dried and canned – label cans and don't forget the can opener!)

•    10 litres of bottled water per person (three days plus)

•    Portable cooker (if using gas remember to have spare canisters or bottles)

•    Cooking equipment and eating utensils

I own pretty much none of that.

In cyclone season you are also meant to know where the public evacuation centres are. That, I managed to look up. The closest one to me is the Nightcliff High school. Yeah I actually don’t really know where that is. But the other one is the Casuarina Shopping Centre. Yep totally know where that is! Not that it would ever be good to have to be evacuated but how weird would it be to be evacuated to a shopping mall! With a woolies and a Coles and lots of clothes stores?!?

Noone else seemed particularly bothered by the Cyclone watch so Rebecca, the new OT, and me just worried to each other. Neither of us managed to turn this worry into ‘buying water and petrol in case the weather got worse’. Then on Tuesday morning this happened…..

CYCLONE WARNING!!!!

Again no one seemed bothered by this. But just in case they shut down all the schools, and all the shops; all elective surgery was cancelled….Even my trust Fernwood was closed! How is that sending a reassuring message to me?!?

Luckily the low-pressure system passed to the west of us and all we got was a large amount of rain and some gale-force winds. The winds alone kept me up at night most of the week so I hate to think what a real cyclone is like! Cyclone season runs to the end of April so I still have a good 6 weeks to get my emergency kit in place.

The weather has somewhat limited my motivation to do anything apart from stay inside. I even had plans to go the mud racing finals last night – partly because I am totally fascinated by the whole concept, and partly because I discovered that Jan, the Burns nurse from the hospital, is the champion driver!!! But heavy rain was enough to convince me that I didn’t want to go stand outside in the mud watching some cars, and I stayed home instead…I'll just have to go when the season starts up again at the end of the year.