Note
cyclones team meeting turned into cyclone cleanup. biddys house came off ok (pool ended up under a foot of water, but it all drained into next-doors yard after a few hours). after the worst of the storm we ended up on clean up dutys - helping a couple of houses get unflooded, and cleaning up fallen branches. biddy and mat went on a pizza mission, which took about an hour to get out of the gap.
the storm itself was pretty crazy - awesome wind, and hail hitting the windows so hard it smashed (fortunately the windows didn't - unlike some other houses). The only thing that survived outside was biddys gargoyle on the front fence.
drive home out of the gap was an adventure - weaving through fallen trees on waterworks rd. powerlines fallen everywhere (and a shreaded water tank strung in the powerline!). cars crushed under fallen trees, and the bridge on waterworks rd was partially under water.