Ellie Mamalis, a resident of South Hedland in Western Australia, is bunkering down in her house with her family as the cyclone passes by.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Where we are currently, it's very, very windy.
00:06The rain that we can see in front of us as we're just by our bedroom window is being
00:12pushed heavily by the wind.
00:14It's very dark and grey outside.
00:17All the trees that we can see seem like they're going to topple over at some point during
00:21the day.
00:22They've all gone like this.
00:23So yeah, it's looking very scary out there.
00:26Have you ever experienced anything like this before?
00:29No, we've only been up here for six months.
00:33So yeah, it was everyone said to us, Oh, don't worry, we don't really get that bad of a cyclone.
00:38And of course, our first one is a category five.
00:40So it's very scary for us.
00:41We've tried our hardest to do everything we can, but we are still scared.
00:47Now you are in South Headland and you have stayed at the home, you haven't evacuated,
00:53you are staying in the home.
00:55How did you come to make that decision?
00:58Um, well, for us, we didn't really know that it was going to be a category five cyclone
01:07until I think the morning.
01:10And so by then, we didn't really have time to make plans of evacuation where we are,
01:14there is no way to evacuate unless you are on the road.
01:17And by then roads would have been flooded.
01:18And then I think about 6.40 last night, we got the red alert, meaning you couldn't leave
01:22anyway.
01:23So there wasn't a chance for us to evacuate.
01:25So we just have to stay here and bunker in the house.
01:28Now we are actually showing some vision now, which you talk outside your home.
01:32It's very windy, very gloomy.
01:35Is that what you have been experiencing?
01:36Yes, yes, it is.
01:38It's still like that right now.
01:39We're looking outside of our bedroom window.
01:41And it's, I couldn't explain to you how eerie the feeling is where you can see outside,
01:46but you can't really see what you used to be able to see in the surrounding area, you
01:50can see in front of you, but everything else is just a dark grey colour.
01:54Now when we were talking to you earlier today, you mentioned that the home you are in is
01:58actually built to withstand cyclones.
02:01Can you tell us a bit about the home that you're in?
02:04So we're in a house that's provided to us by BHP.
02:07And from what we've heard from everyone else that lives up here, they have to follow some
02:11form of a compliance, sorry, when it comes to cyclones.
02:16So at the top of our, on our roof, it honestly has about a million bolts holding it onto
02:22a normal house.
02:23I did send a photo through and a video through, but our windows have cyclone proof, like mesh,
02:33it's very thick metal mesh.
02:34And it's about, I'd say maybe five centimetres between the actual window on the inside and
02:40that mesh on the outside.
02:42So the water just tunnels in and goes straight out.
02:44So you've got no leaks coming into the house.
02:46So it's pretty sturdy.
02:49Now you and Jake, you obviously have your two sons to look out for.
02:53How have you prepared your family for this event?
02:56Do you have lots of food in supply?
02:59We do.
03:00I'm a hoarder, as he likes to say.
03:02So my pantry is always full, so I didn't feel the need to go out and excessively shop.
03:07But we did buy some extra water.
03:09We made our bathroom into a bunker, as everyone has said, the bathroom would probably be the
03:13safest place.
03:14So we've prepped that, we've put water in there for us, water in there for our dogs.
03:19We've gotten the dogs some new beds just to keep them comfortable.
03:22We've got all our emergency documents in waterproof casings.
03:25We've got torches stationed in our bedroom, in the bathroom, extra batteries, extra lights.
03:31Just tried to think of everything that we could.
03:32And then we did pack a bag of toys for the kids and a bag of clothes for all of us.
03:38Okay.
03:39What's the feeling been like amongst the community, both today and yesterday, obviously in the
03:44lead up and anticipation?
03:46I honestly think it's been a mixed emotion.
03:49There are a lot of new people here, plus there's a lot of people that have lived here their
03:52whole lives.
03:53So I think for a lot of people, they've thought, oh, well, it's just another cyclone.
03:56But then there's people like us that are newcomers that are going, oh, my God, it's a safe cyclone.
04:00So it's been kind of scary in that aspect.
04:02But everyone here is like family.
04:04You know, your neighbors will come and help you.
04:07Everyone has posted on all pages up here, like the Everything Hedlund page, you know,
04:11they've been posting if you need anything, if you need somewhere to stay, if you need
04:14help, anything, reach out.
04:16So I think we've got a really good community here.
04:18So it makes it makes us feel safe considering we don't have any family up here.
04:22We kind of have the Pilbara family.
04:24So it's good.
04:25Okay, that's great to hear.
04:26Okay, Ellie, I hope you and your family stay safe and thanks for joining us.
04:30Thank you so much.