I asked Mum if i could write a guest post about our experience with Cyclone Winston and as she said yes, here i am :) Firstly, just want to say thanks to the regular readers for their support and prayers to our family, means a lot! Oh and shout out to one my bestest friends Katy.L who always makes me smile every time she tells me she loves this Blog xxx
Okay so on Friday afternoon i was at school and in Physics class our teacher was telling us about how the cyclone was category 4 and how it was heading straight for us here in Suva, Fiji due to hit Saturday night. He told us that we'd most likely be stuck indoors all day Saturday and Sunday without power. This was the first time i knew it was a big deal and as he showed us images on the board i started to get a bit nervous. But Mum and Dad were prepared.
Saturday morning i got a call from one of my friends inviting me to the movies. When her and her Mum picked me up she told me I'd been the only friend allowed out of the house so her Mum joked about how her and my Mum were the "bad parents" haha.
That night it was extremely windy and rainy! It was so loud and our trees looked so weak being flung around outside. There was thunder and lightening too but the scariest part was probably when sparks came out of the power lines. In the middle of dinner the power cut out so we started lighting the candles we had out and turning on the torches. That night was super hot and boring! But a highlight was being able to finish off eating the ice-cream before it melted.
When i woke up on Sunday morning it was still very hot but it was quiet. I walked outside with Mum and it wasn't windy or rainy. I got a shock to see lots of trees had fallen over and our trampoline had travelled quite a bit to the left, was leaning on its side and was rather twisted and bent. That's when i realised just how powerful the winds had been and i got very worried thinking about the many people who hadn't had proper housing that night! Then Mum and i got into the car to listen to the radio updates and heard about the (at that time) 10 deaths. It was so horrendous to hear, very heartbreaking to think of those peoples loved ones. This reminded me i really had nothing to be complaining about! Not having electricity and having the curfew (if you were caught out of your house without good reason by the police you'd be arrested) put in place wasn't fun but in comparison we were very blessed. That day we played Monopoly, read books, played board games and yeah had cold showers.
Monday school was cancelled and the curfew was lifted so our family went to The Holiday Inn to charge our phones and laptops, have some cold water and fresh food, and go for a swim. We ran into other people we knew there doing the same thing so it was lovely for me to be able to talk to my friends and for our Mum's to compare notes on smells in the fridges haha ew! Also lovely to show little Timmy off to some friends who hadn't met him yet which is always exciting to do.
That night we watched some DVDs on the charged laptops and then went to bed. After about 20mins of us kids getting into bed we heard the aircon beep and the fans start up. Outside we heard many people cheering and us three kids ran out to Mum and Dad and we all hugged each other joining in on the cheering. We were so relieved to fall asleep without dripping in sweat! People even set off fireworks obviously also very happy!
Thankful:
- that God kept our family and friends safe
- to everyone who prayed for us
- that we never lost water
- that nothing of ours was damaged badly
- that we'll now appreciate how blessed we are to live constantly electricity
- that i have great parents who tried to make it the time as fun as they could with games etc.
Pray:
- for the people who lost loved ones
- that the injured would recover and missing would be found
- for the people who lost their homes
- that rebuilding would be quick and that there will be enough money for everything
- for the evacuation centers
-that those whose power and water hasn't come back will soon
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| Our only damage |
