AS the anniversary of the Christmas and New Year storms approaches it will bring mixed feelings among the community.
For some the trauma of the tornado and the subsequent storms has not ended, they have lost their homes, had to leave the mountain completely or are still dealing with insurance companies and repairs.
Children and the elderly may feel particularly vulnerable and a sense of trepidation with each clap of thunder or gust of wind.
Oliviero Nardi and his wife, Nicky, daughter, Hope and son Jackson are feeling particularly unprepared.
Their house on MacDonnell Road was hit hard with part of the roof missing and the verandah torn apart.
Oliviero has spent the months since negotiating with his insurer and has only just reached an agreement on a settlement figure for the repair work to now begin.
The SES were unable to put a tarp over their roof because it was asbestos, so they had to watch as their home became further destroyed in the subsequent days of rain.
“It sucked knowing everything was going to be flooded inside,” Oliviero recalled.
“The longer it was left the more we found leaks in the house.”
The insurance company wanted to just pay out cash, rather than warrant the work. However, Oliverio said the quote from the company’s builder was far lower than what he estimated the work would cost.
It took a former local resident who worked for his insurance company to understand why the costs to rebuild were so high.
“I’ve been pretty patient and pretty lucky,” Oliverio said.
But now they will have to leave their house for the work to be done and he’s hoping they don’t start work before Christmas and also worried about potential looting if they leave the house vacant.
“It’s been stressful for my wife. As much as I’d have loved to do DIY stuff, we didn’t know what the outcome with insurance would be,” he explained.
It is only just now he has begun to rip up the carpet.
“I think we are used to the mould, which is sad to say,” he said.
“We try to keep the windows open and the humidifier going to bring the smell down.”
“I don’t know what is going to happen,” he said of the coming season. “You can never really be prepared. Being in those type of winds for some people was quite frightening.”
Despite his own predicament, Oliverio was out helping others in the weeks following with the Chainsaw Warriors and he said many people were anxious and talked about moving off the mountain.
Adam Chanter who started the Chainsaw Warriors said he believes as a community we are going to be fine.
“We are better prepared for what may come through our lived experience,” he stated.
“We have suffered this disastrous natural disaster and through people having to do the work by default we are in a better position and more resilient. People have had to buy generators and chainsaws and better equipment.
“This gives us faith we can get back on our feet depending on what that disaster may be.”
Adam said there has been ongoing conversations with the community and the local disaster response group chaired by the State Government’s Community Recovery.
However, he stated the glaring omission is in depth conversations with government at local and State level or Federal Government on how to do things better.
Travis Green Regional Community Engagement and Recruitment Officer with SES encouraged everyone to be prepared for storm season.
“Long range forecasts suggest we will have a significant storm season this year,” he said.
However, Travis added that from an SES perspective Tamborine Mountain handled last year’s disaster far better than those around us.
