Australian Catholics fight rain, flooding during cyclone recovery

Published: 2006-04-07

SYDNEY, Australia (CNS) -- The town of Innisfail's population of 19,000 was wet and exhausted as emergency workers fought monsoonal rain and flooding in early April in their attempt to restore services to the remote top end of Australia. Two weeks after Cyclone Larry cut a swath of destruction across the Johnston Shire with winds gusting over 180 miles per hour, the area along the Great Barrier Reef was a national disaster zone. Father Frank Gordon of Innisfail said the cyclone's impact March 20 was "like being on a sailing ship on a stormy sea. One minute we were on the top deck, the next down below." He told Catholic News Service by telephone that inside the Good Counsel Parish rectory, he and Father Barry Craig were busy for four hours "closing windows that kept blowing open, trying to secure them, putting towels over them where the glass blew out. We were just waiting for the roof to go -- but gratefully it held on."

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