The Australian

[t3h PeNgU1N oF d00m]

I had a very bad experience at Outback Steakhouse the other day. My steak was tough and overcooked, and the waiter became very hostile when I repeatedly asked about the lack of kangaroos in the establishment. 1/5 stars; will not return.

[PhillBellic]

As I live in Newcastle, I felt a lot of the storm.

 

I was woken at about 3:00AM on Tuesday to my house shaking a little bit, I was not worried since it's made of bricks, at about 7:30AM my mother came into my room and informed me that I was not going to TAFE that day, nor was my sister going to school, and I was to watch her, and then at about 10:30AM, my step father got home reporting to me that his work was flooding with their lights flickering, my Mother also returned from work early at about 2:30PM telling me that her work had lost power and her job sucked too much power from the backup generators and warned me that we may lose power any second as much of the city was already without it, we finally lost power at about 6:30PM, we were lucky to have it as long as we did, as much of the city lost theirs before we did.

 

The next morning, the storm appeared to be over so I went on a bike ride to see if the nearby bowling club was open, on the way I saw that the pond my sister usually plays at looked like a bomb hit it and a nearby house had a tree leaning on it, the people living there were lucky there house was not damaged, on the way I found the footpath blocked by a fallen tree, and then I saw that Lake Macquaire had broken it's banks but the water was lower than it must of been over night because I found a wish washed further away from the lake, right up to the bowling club, despite this, the bowling club was open, but we still decided to drive somewhere else, we went to a hotel in Belmont which was out of power but surprisingly still serving drinks.

 

My mother said that someone she knew worked with Ausgrid of something like that told her that we were not meant to get power until Friday, but thanks to living near a hospital, our power was restored about 3:45PM yesterday afternoon, right after lighting the candles (it was already getting dark).

 

 

I got lucky, but I know there are people out there who have lost their homes, possessions, and for some, sadly their loved ones, may God be with them.

 

EDIT: Despite the advice given, my poor friend had to work at Coles Tuesday night.

Yeah, you Novocastrians took a hammering out there. Dungog, was pretty much the epicentre of the storms.

[Algonquin Assassin]

I live not too far away from Dungog, but today was the first day I got to see the aftermath. My grandma and other family are blocked off by flood waters in the Millers Forest area.

[PhillBellic]

I live not too far away from Dungog, but today was the first day I got to see the aftermath. My grandma and other family are blocked off by flood waters in the Millers Forest area.

I hope you can get in touch with them soon.

 

p.s. How's the Hunter Line right now?

[B7R]

 

I live not too far away from Dungog, but today was the first day I got to see the aftermath. My grandma and other family are blocked off by flood waters in the Millers Forest area.

I hope you can get in touch with them soon.

 

p.s. How's the Hunter Line right now?

 

Hunter Train line? I think it still closed but I heard half of the track opened back up today just can't remember the name and i'm too tired to do research now.

 

As for the other details half of my Estate has power the rest is still without, guess I was one of the lucky few to see it get switched back on today. There's a way of telling if the area's have power and that's by looking at the streetlights, if it's off then you can be sure that area is still without power, if it's on then the area has power.

 

I'm also a Local Newcastle Resident for those wondering, Should probably start a AMA (Ask Me Anything) on this.

[PhillBellic]

 

 

I live not too far away from Dungog, but today was the first day I got to see the aftermath. My grandma and other family are blocked off by flood waters in the Millers Forest area.

I hope you can get in touch with them soon.

 

p.s. How's the Hunter Line right now?

 

Hunter Train line? I think it still closed but I heard half of the track opened back up today just can't remember the name and i'm too tired to do research now.

 

As for the other details half of my Estate has power the rest is still without, guess I was one of the lucky few to see it get switched back on today. There's a way of telling if the area's have power and that's by looking at the streetlights, if it's off then you can be sure that area is still without power, if it's on then the area has power.

 

I'm also a Local Newcastle Resident for those wondering, Should probably start a AMA (Ask Me Anything) on this.

 

That's the one.

[Algonquin Assassin]

I hope the Hunter Line is working next week. Just checked the city rail website and it's closed due to flooding at Hexham.

[B7R]

Not to mention my brother has been sent home from work 3 times this week because of the outages and flooding at Hexam.

 

How hard is it to close a workplace for the rest of the week if it's still affected by an outage and long traffic hold ups?

[Aussie Darkrider]

I'm in Lake Macquarie not too far from Marmong Point, we lost our power Tuesday morning at about 2AM and got it back today Friday at 2-2:30AM.

I phoned my boss at 6AM Tuesday morning and said it would be very unlikely I'll make it to work, with all the trees down in my area, roads blocked etc.

He said try and get to work, ha! got there 2 hours later and they had no power, sent us home after 3 hours of cleaning up.

To top it off any missed hours work we have to not get paid, or use annual leave.

 

I've got 1 tree in my back yard that needs to come down it's leaning over held up with rope.

My neighbour 3 doors down had an huge Iron bark tree demolish the back half of her house Tuesday night, in the 2nd hit of the storm, she is still waiting for the tree to get moved,

but SES said she's on the priority list, must be a very long list.

[Jolly Swagman]

^^^^

If you talk to Centrelink they might give you some cash for the period you're stood down.

 

http://www.fairwork.gov.au/about-us/policies-and-guides/fact-sheets/rights-and-obligations/employment-conditions-during-natural-disasters-and-emergencies

[Aussie Darkrider]

^^^^

If you talk to Centrelink they might give you some cash for the period you're stood down.

 

http://www.fairwork.gov.au/about-us/policies-and-guides/fact-sheets/rights-and-obligations/employment-conditions-during-natural-disasters-and-emergencies

Thanks for the link to fairwork, in my circumstance it comes back to the Award I'm under.

The boss is not likely to terminate any workers, over a few days without power, just trying to save himself a few bucks.

Minimum 4 hours pay for turning up to work then the other 4 hours paid as annual leave if you have it, or take the option of no pay for that 4 hours.

I'm sure I was on holidays back in 2007 when we had our other major storm, which left the Hunter Region devastated.

[PhillBellic]

 

^^^^

If you talk to Centrelink they might give you some cash for the period you're stood down.

 

http://www.fairwork.gov.au/about-us/policies-and-guides/fact-sheets/rights-and-obligations/employment-conditions-during-natural-disasters-and-emergencies

Thanks for the link to fairwork, in my circumstance it comes back to the Award I'm under.

The boss is not likely to terminate any workers, over a few days without power, just trying to save himself a few bucks.

Minimum 4 hours pay for turning up to work then the other 4 hours paid as annual leave if you have it, or take the option of no pay for that 4 hours.

I'm sure I was on holidays back in 2007 when we had our other major storm, which left the Hunter Region devastated.

 

I love this Case Study in the link.

 

 

Case Study: Stand Downs

Anthony runs a café in the Hunter Valley which has been affected by a flood, leaving his business unable to operate.

Anthony is unsure what to do about his employees’ entitlements. He contacts the Fair Work Infoline and is advised that the award that applies to his business does not contain any provisions that deal with business closures due to natural disasters.

Anthony is told that in the absence of any provisions under a relevant award, the Fair Work Act 2009 provides that where an employee cannot be usefully employed as result of a stoppage of work for which an employer cannot be held responsible (such as a natural disaster), the employer is able to stand down his or her employees without pay until they are able to return to their job.

If possible, Anthony would prefer not to have to stand down his employees, so he first checks to see whether they have any unused leave entitlements which he can make available to them until they can return to work. He finds that of his three employees:

• two are part-time and have accrued annual leave
• one is full-time and has accrued both annual leave and long service leave

On this basis, Anthony contacts each of his employees to advise them that as a result of the flooding, the business is unable to remain open and he cannot provide them with useful employment at this stage. He also tells them that in accordance with the Fair Work Act 2009, he will be standing them down without pay until the business is able to reopen. For those employees who have accrued entitlements, he offers them the option of accessing those entitlements as an alternative to being stood down, at least until these have been exhausted. Anthony makes it clear that it is entirely optional and there is no obligation to take this leave. Some employees choose to take paid leave, while one employee decides to hold on to their leave accrual for a holiday they have planned. He then writes to each of his employees by email to confirm the arrangements discussed and provides them with his contact details during the stand down period. He advises the employees that he will remain in regular contact with them throughout the period of the closure and notify them when the business is up and running again.

Co-incidence?

[Finn 7 five 11]

I was up in Newy the last few days, it was wild as, there's a huge tree right by Bar Beach totally uprooted, one of those big wide bushy green ones, I forget the exact name.

It was quite funny, I was at my Uncle's funeral yesterday and the power at the funeral home came back on literally two minutes before the proceedings were set to begin, we were all joking that the bad weather was him screwing around with us and he brought the power back just for his funeral hehe.

[Acehilm]

I'm down on the Central Coast. Gosford waterfront was literally getting waves, and boats followed. Quite a lot of trees down and power out. Luckily, I wasn't one of those poor buggers without electricity. Apparently it's meant to storm tomorrow. Just remembered that tomorrow is ANZAC day.

[Coin]

The Hunter seens to get hit pretty frequently it seems. A shame.

[PhillBellic]

Absoultely p*ssing down where I am. Lightning, thunder, and hail.

[Finn 7 five 11]

Apparently it's snowed in Sydney?

[Coin]

Nah, hail. Lots of it.

[Algonquin Assassin]

I was in Sydney yesterday (Liverpool to be exact) and we got a pretty wild storm with some hail and on the drive back it was just rain, stop, storm, rain, stop, storm for the 2 hours or so it took to get home. I'm so over this sh*tty weather. I might move to Hawaii.

[PhillBellic]

I was in Sydney yesterday (Liverpool to be exact) and we got a pretty wild storm with some hail and on the drive back it was just rain, stop, storm, rain, stop, storm for the 2 hours or so it took to get home. I'm so over this sh*tty weather. I might move to Hawaii.

The weather has been pretty crazy. Some warehouses in Huntingwood got flattened during the storm.

[Acehilm]

Bali Nine pair officially told they could be executed 'within days'

 

Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan have been told they may be executed as soon as Tuesday.

The pair was given notice on Saturday of Indonesia's intention to execute them in a minimum of 72 hours, during a meeting on Nusakambangan Island.

 

Read more at http://www.9news.com.au/world/2015/04/25/18/12/bali-nine-officially-notified-executions#lBBKZ8WwbDKtq3Ph.99

Edited April 26, 2015 by Coat.

[Corndawg93]

I just got power back like 4 hours ago

[PhillBellic]

I just got power back like 4 hours ago

How much food did you have to chuck out?

[Corndawg93]

 

 

I just got power back like 4 hours ago

How much food did you have to chuck out?Pretty much everything

[zMis Fortune]

I was in Sydney yesterday (Liverpool to be exact) and we got a pretty wild storm with some hail and on the drive back it was just rain, stop, storm, rain, stop, storm for the 2 hours or so it took to get home. I'm so over this sh*tty weather. I might move to Hawaii.

 

Pretty sure I was in that too, I'm not going out til it's warmer. :c

[Pete4000uk]

I could never get used to having winter in summer!

[PhillBellic]

If you are in South East Queensland, or NSW, brace for more storms.

 

ABC News link.

[Coin]

Yup, flood warning here. Raining cats and dogs.

[Ezza.]

Take it easy on the roads in the wet weather if you're in the South East, guys. Saw someone get hit by a panicked driver in a Triton today.

 

This rain isn't forecast to clear up until Monday, so we still got a couple days of heavy rain to go.

[lastmanonearth]

The only benefit for Australians to discuss the situation in their country is to get it off their chests, since the government in Australia doesn`t give two sh*ts about what the people want. Never has and never will, regardless which government`s in power. I`ve spent 10 years in Australia and that`s how I came to realization. The funniest/saddest thing is that people blindly vote for them all the same since voting is mandatory and they don`t want to get fined.