Gold Coast families turn prolonged power outage into bonding opportunity

ABC NEWS (Australia)

School closures, power outages and public transport cancellations continue to plague families across south-east Queensland. Some residents are trying to keep their spirits up, making the most of a bad situation.

Transcript

00:00Books and board games have gotten the roadie Bromanis family through the last four days.

00:08We even completed a game of Monopoly, first in ages.

00:13They lost power last Friday and have been using camp lights, running an extension cord

00:18to the neighbour's house to keep the fridge going.

00:21Every time we feel a little bit like we're a bit bored or a bit going crazy, we've been

00:25just getting back to the novel that we love.

00:27They're not alone. More than 150,000 homes and businesses are still without power across

00:34the South East. Crews are working to restore services. Some on the Gold Coast relieved

00:40to have it back.

00:41I've got a child who's 12, so we've just had no power since late on Friday night. Yeah,

00:48she's been pulling my hair out.

00:49I'm going to go and have a shower. I mean, you can smell me before you see me.

00:54Cupboard shelves remain empty despite efforts from the major chains to restock. That didn't

00:59deter shoppers needing extra supplies.

01:02I've got teenagers, so pretty much they ate everything in my cupboard. I think we ate

01:09a lot of the stuff before the actual cyclone hit.

01:12There's not much of anything, so there's still a little bit of milk left. There's no bread.

01:19Some buses in Brisbane were operating today. Most routes were cancelled.

01:23We lived near the bus stop and we could hear the bus, and so we knew it had started again.

01:29We expect tomorrow to be able to run additional services, obviously subject to weather.

01:34The weather forced more than 700 schools to keep their doors closed. Hundreds were due

01:39to reopen, but for many, a last minute decision was made to stay shut for safety reasons.

01:45If in the morning a principal makes a local decision to close a school because they believe

01:51that something's changed, either it's lost electricity or it's no longer safe to get

01:55there, we'll always back that local principal.

01:58Back on the bayside, while mum Hannah is looking forward to the kids going back to school,

02:04they feel differently.

02:05But I don't want to go back to school. It's boring.

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