>
> It's always good to hear an encouraging story like that. I've been an avid hurricane watcher since I rode out one in 1949. These days we would call it a cat 3 or cat 4, but back then it was "a bad one." My second one was in 1950, not too bad, but the wind was over 100 mph all night long. Since then, I have lived about 600 kilometers inland and all we get from tropical systems is rain.
>
> I was watching Larry and thinking about what happened to New Orleans last year. I knew that one was going to be a humdinger as soon as it entered the Gulf of Mexico.
>
> I hope assistance will be quick and effective. It may be a few more days before we get the whole picture and know how bad Larry really was.

Assistance is being very quick and very effective. All the levels of government have tossed out the red tape and got busy. It is amazing how much is getting done.

After the cyclone, the power infrastructure looked like the work of a deranged spider. All major trasmission lines were down, with some loosing several towers.

It took. I think, two days for the first tower to be replaced. The tower itself had to be shipped in despite major flooding. The army provided a heavy-lift helicopter (Search for "chinook helicopter" for more on these magnificent old birds) to lift it into place. The other lines will be back up this week, I have heard, despte as much as 5 towers being lost.)

The local work being done is equally impressive. Every time you go out you notice a section of power lines that is, if not straight, at least standing.

The work done to clear roads is also amazing. When you travel on roads that pass through rainforrest, you see the number of large trees that had to be cut. I have heard of people complaining, but I have no idea why.

>
> I had to whip out the old National Geographic Atlas to find you, but there you are on the northeast shore facing the Coral Sea. It looks like about 80 or 90 kilometers south of Cairns. Maybe the Great Barrier Reef provided some protection from the storm surge.
>

Not much, I'm afraid. The storm surge largely occoured to the south of us, where the winds were strongly on-shore. I have not been sight-seeing (we were told not to do that!!), but the reports from Kurrimine beach (~20km south) are horrendous. Many houses front the sea, and there is a long, low mud flat in front of the beach - all told, designed for maximum tidal-surge damage. Thankfully, most of those beach towns were evacuated.
I had a job to do in Mission beach (~30 km south), and there was considerable road damage as the surge and waves came up over the coastal road. Again, I did no sight-seeing to see what damage was done to houses.

> I remember the feeling of having won, when I walked out after the '49 hurricane and saw the distruction that I had survived.
> Howard

I do know the feeling. The main thing that this cyclone has proved, however, is the benifit of the cyclone-rating system for building constructions. The major damage is to houses that predated that (mid-70's), or ignored it. (there have been some that were not properly constructed, and it found them out!!)
Mostly, the construction methods - tying everything together, bolts from the bottom plate right through to a special batten on top, screwed rooves replacing spring-head nails, batten straps and bracing - have meant that the majority of houses have survived structurally, and most damage being to windows that were broken by flying debris, or, occasinally, simply broken by sheer force of the wind.

I am lucky to have a father who is a carpenter, and has been constantly improving the strength of our house. All that work over the last 35+ years has paid off big time.