Ray Jenkins lost his Cardwell home when Cyclone Yasi hit the North Queensland coast in early 2011. He was forced to relocate to Atherton in the hills near Cairns when his house was destroyed. The 86-year-old World War II veteran fills his time tinkering with motors and still looks on the bright side of life.
"It's just one of those things that nature sends every now and then and you gotta live with it," Ray says with a gleam in his eye.
Ray has lived through a few cyclones in his time. He worked for many years as a merchant seaman and has lived through all manner of storms. When he heard the cyclone was heading towards the coast, he thought it would land north of Cairns. The storm changed course and it was not long before the roof was being ripped from his house.
While Ray remains positive, he reflects on just how lucky he was to survive one of the biggest cyclones in Australia's history.
"I got a little bag with some clothes and personal papers and got on my scooter and went down to the community hall … Yasi was really playing hell with everything, sheets of iron, trees and rain and wind."
When Ray arrived the doors were locked, so Ray spent the night alone huddled in the back doorway of the community hall, curled up in a corner. Unable to get inside and with little protection from the elements, Ray was soaked, but safe.
When he ventured out the next morning, Ray was confronted by the damage Yasi had inflicted on Cardwell. His home had been wrecked.
"I dared (not) go inside … the kitchen was like a bomb had been through it, everything was gone. It's like stepping off a train in a town that you used to live in many years ago and you go to walk out and go the wrong way, it's changed that much on you," Ray says sadly.
With his house in ruins and no where to live, Ray stayed in emergency accommodation in Cairns for a couple of weeks before securing more permanent housing in Atherton.
Cyclone Yasi hit as Queensland was mopping up after massive floods, which claimed 35 lives. The floods affected more than 200,000 people across the state.
The two disasters sparked an emergency response from more than 1400 Red Cross staff and volunteers. In the past year, Red Cross staff and volunteers supported more than 16,600 people across the state, checking to see how they were coping and ensuring their needs were being looked after.
Ray was referred on by Red Cross to a number of services, assisting with his basic needs.
Ray says he is really grateful for the help he's received. He misses his old home in Cardwell and the opportunity to catch up with his friends and neighbours, who understand how he feels, having also lived through Cyclone Yasi.
"Emotionally I've been very traumatised, because there's no-one here to talk to." Ray talks through his emotions with Red Cross volunteers Don and Lynette who visit him once a month. Don and Lynette provide personal support, checking in to see how Ray is coping.
One year after Cyclone Yasi hit, many people across Queensland are still dealing with the emotional impact of the disaster.
Experts including Psychologist Dr Rob Gordon says while most people recover well from disasters, it is quite normal for people to take their time to come to terms with what has taken place. "Often, it is a couple of years before people start to reflect and wonder how to place their loss in a broader context of the previous plans they had that gives a sense of the future again," Dr Gordon says.
Ray says he is forever grateful to Red Cross who have helped him through the past year, "Red Cross, they bent over backwards to help me and that was a wonderful thing."
One year after the cyclone changed thousands of people's lives, Ray is unsure what the future holds. "You think to yourself what am I going to do today, look around and see who's here and not here and where I lived. Little things like that come to your mind and you don't know what you're going to do, what your reaction is going to be when you get there."
Ray misses Cardwell "badly" and is hoping to return home one day. In the meantime, he's making the most of his new place in Atherton, getting to know the neighbours. He says he is also becoming a regular at local stores buying parts for his car, aiming to get it roadworthy for more regular trips to see his friends in Cardwell.
Photos: Australian Red Cross / Leigh Harris
Back to Queensland cyclone Yasi 2011.