ThunderstruckBy: Jessica

Jessica November 5, 2012

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Author’s Note

Dear Reader,My name is Jessica. I wrote this piece about my aunt, Colette. The storm that I wrote about, happened on the 25th of December, 2011; Christmas day, in Melbourne. There was a small tornado that touched down in Keilor Downs, the tornado that my aunt saw forming. There were hail stones that struck everywhere around Melbourne. Some got as big, as the size of cricket balls! There were also many flash floods, in suburbs like, Bateman’s Bay, Nowra, Goulburn, and Albury. On the day my aunt, and her family, were having Christmas lunch at Colette’s mother’s house, where they have lunch every Christmas. Before the large storm, it was said to be a lovely day, with a blue sky, and nice temperatures, then it turned nasty. I hope you enjoyed my piece. Thank you for reading!

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Family Tree

This is a part of my Family Tree. I have many more relatives, but these are my main relatives, and my aunt’s family, that I wrote

about. My aunt is Colette, some other characters in my story were, my grandma Daphne, my cousins Ashleigh, and Brendan,

plus my uncle David.

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Thunderstruck I sat out on my mother’s creaky old deck chair, glugging back a warm diet coke. It was a sunny Christmas day, with a deep turquoise-coloured sky, and a light breeze that played across my face. The tranquil trees swayed in the wind, hypnotizing me with their mesmerizing movements. “I’m going to head back to the apartment, mum!” Called my daughter, Ashley, breaking the calm that had enveloped me. “See you later!” I bellowed back. Wheels screeched against the pavement, and Ashley was gone. I shuffled inside my mother’s house, draining my coke. My son, Brendan, and husband, David, were sitting in front of the T.V, glaring at the AFL game that was being played. “Yes!” they chanted, as one of their team members kicked a goal. “Who’s winning?” I questioned. “Tigers,” they moaned. I shook my head, and took a seat next to my mother in-law, Daphne. She was peering out the window with a frown on her face. I followed her gaze. “Boys, I think there is going to be quite a storm,” I warned. I flicked the channel to the news, right as it turned to weather. “What did you change the channel f…” Brendan cut his question short.

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“Hail has hit Melton hard, and will soon cover all of Melbourne, as this terrible storm continues to grow,” the commentator stated. “I suppose there will be a white Christmas this summer!” He joked. I rushed outside to look up at the sky. Storm clouds were coming in fast, racing to overtake

the city. I shivered, and realized how the temperature had dropped; I suddenly needed a coat in the middle of summer. Lightning flashed, and thunder shook the ground, revealing a horrifying sight. A tornado was forming; it was a swirling funnel of fury. Shaking, I strode back under cover, seeing the black clouds loom overhead. Soon, I heard a metallic sounding clang, as the first of the hailstones struck the roof. “Oh my god, I have to get a video of this!” Exclaimed Brendan. It seemed so long ago that I had been sitting outside, enjoying the blue sky and the warm air. I shook myself, and crept back out onto the porch. Hail was thick in the air, plummeting towards the ground, like a bullet toward its target. Brendan crawled out to the end of the veranda, and snatched up a glistening piece of ice from the grass. It was the size of a golf ball! Another flash of light lit up the sky, followed almost immediately by a low rumble. The sound reminded me of a dog’s growl.

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We watched, and watched, as the storm raged on. “Get inside now! The weather man said that there are flash floods happening in our area!” yelled David. I herded a panic-stricken Brendan back into my mother’s house assuring him that the storm was going to blow over. Reclining into a squishy armchair next to the fireplace, I continued to train my eyes on the flashing T.V. screen. The unrelenting hail seemed to get heavier. Another streak of lightning whitened the black sky; this time it had struck gold. Our television screeched then went blank, leaving us to our own devices. Ring, ring, ring! My cell phone screamed. Startled, I swiped my phone from my back pocket not bothering to run my eyes over the caller I.D. “Mum!” yelled Ashley. “What is it, Ash?” I asked with concern. “I got stuck in my car. There is an overpass nearby, but it isn’t wide enough to cover me!” She replied feverishly. “Calm down honey, cover the car as much as you can, then wait out the storm,” I said soothingly, “Everything is going to be fine.” The sickening thuds of hail could be heard against the car, as she drove to partial safety. “Okay, okay, I’ve parked under the overpass, I’ll call you later,” my daughter cried, her voice rising to be heard above the

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deafening storm. She hung up, leaving me wondering what was going to happen. The hail had now started to sound normal to me; it had been coming down on the roof for so long. Splash, splash, splash. That was new, the hail turned to rain! The wind sighed, and then died, and the sounds of rushing water trailed away. I looked out the window to see if it was actually happening, and not just my imagination. A ray of sunlight struck my face, and I ducked away, blinking the spots out of my eyes. Everything seemed eerily quiet now that the horrible clanking vibrations of hail had been silenced. Brendan sprinted outside, stopped near our parked cars, and shook his head violently. “Oh no! Mum, dad you better come see this!” he shouted out, “the cars have been completely trashed.” Driving my face into my hand, I jumped out of my seat, and staggered outside. Why didn’t I think of this? There is going to be a lot of damage, my brain scolded me. Sighing, I stared down at the dented cars, to inspect how hard the hail had hit.

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InterviewQ: How big were the hail stones?A: The hailstones started off small, then got to golf ball and some cricket ball size. Q: Did you see where the tornado was forming? Where was it forming?A: It had the appearance of tornado forming clouds which all of a sudden started turning slowly.  It was then the strong winds came, and hail stones. Q: Did any of the flash floods happen nearby where you were?A: Yes there were some flash floods in my town and areas nearby. Q: Did you see the first signs of the storm?A: Sure did, half the sky was sunny and blue and then half of it with the heavy dark clouds that looked quite scary.. Q: Where were you when the storm hit?A: At my mum’s house in Broad meadows, for Christmas Day. Q: How did you react to the storm?A: It was quite scary at first, then I think we were all amazed/shocked at how quick it came and the size of hailstones. Q: Was there any damage? What was damaged?A: We had 4 cars damaged quite severely, with my sisters and brothers cars being damaged as well. One of the hailstones put a hole in the rear tail light of my sisters car. Our neighbors carport roof looked like it had a machine gun fired at it with big holes right through the laser light roofing of it.. 

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Q: How were you effected by this storm?A: When we got home we realized the extent of damage on all cars.. Also our back patio which is all under roof was absolutely soaking wet right to the wall of the house..Gutters had overflowed and everything was soaked. Q: What was happening before the event?A: It was quite a lovely sunny day. Q: What were you doing when the storm hit?A: Sitting out the backyard of mums house after our Christmas dinner, having a drink, talking and relaxing.. Q: What happened in your area?A: Lots of damage on cars, roofs and floods.. Apparently some people had house windows smashed from the hail. Q: What were you doing during the storm?A: Standing on mums veranda recording it, and watching the cars get damaged as there was nothing we could do about it.. We were also watching the hailstones bouncing in the neighbors yard like tennis balls. Q: Who was with you during the event? What were they doing?A: My mum, sister, brother, husband, son, Mother in law, brother in law, niece and her partner.. Ashley (daughter) had left not long before the storm struck, and she got caught on western ring road right in the middle of it all.. She called me on phone was quite scared, I could hear the hail belting down on her car.. She had to pull over and got most of the car in under the overpass, she was saying to me the hail was ricocheting off the sidewall of the overpass and hitting the side of her car. 

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Q: What happened during the event?A: Besides a lot of damage to properties and cars.. People were all amazed at how fast and furious the storm was.. There was a tornado the other side of Bacchus Marsh and another in around the Taylors lakes area.. People were both scared and shocked at the ferociousness of the storm.. Later it was all calm and sunny again.. I would say the main part of the storm lasted about 15-20 mins..

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Bibliography

Works Cited

"Melbourne Mops up after Wild Christmas Storms." - ABC News

(Australian Broadcasting Corporation). ABC News, 26 Dec.

2011. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. <http://www.abc.net.au/news/

2011-12-26/melbourne-mops-up-after-wild-christmas-

storms/3747086>.

"Tornado, Hail as Storms Lash Melbourne." The Sydney Morning

Herald. The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 Dec. 2011. Web. 05

Nov. 2012. <http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/

tornado-hail-as-storms-lash-

melbourne-20111225-1p9au.html>.

"Wild Weather Batters North and South." Canberra Times.

Canberra Times, 25 Dec. 2011. Web. 04 Nov. 2012. <http://

www.canberratimes.com.au/national/wild-weather-batters-

north-and-south-20111225-1ugww.html>.

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ReflectionWhat specific challenges did you face during this project?During this project, one of the challenges that i faced, was when I had to find out all of the details about my close family. I had to have my dad text and email people, looking for some last names.

What did you learn about your family member? (personality, character…)I learnt more about what happened on the day of the storm. I also learned more about Colette’s reactions to things, when she is having a bad time.

What did you learn about yourself (as a learner, as a family member)?I learned that I am very different from the rest of my family, as they all live in australia, with conserved lives, whilst I live in asia, and get to have so many exciting experiences.

How have you grown? (as a writer…)I think I have grown as a writer, while writing this paper, by me having to correct my usual mistakes. I try to correct them permanently, but every time counts.

Why do you think doing a project like this is important?I think that it is important to do projects like this every once in a while for some fun. Something different, and something big that you can work on, and something that has to do with your life. And your ancestor’s lives.

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What part of this process did you enjoy most? Why?I enjoyed writing the narrative. I enjoyed this part most, because it was very fun to write about a raging storm, trying to use descriptive words, and make the lines on the page come alive.

What part of this process did you least enjoy? Why?Making the family tree. I hated making the family tree, because I had to spend a lot of time asking my mother about last names, and who was who. It was very tiring.

How do you plan to share this project with your family/ family member?I plan to send my aunt this via e- mail, and tell her about my project, and why I did it, also why I chose her.

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