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Guard by name and guarded by nature - former Tall Blacks basketballer Phill Jones converted his master bedroom's walk-in wardrobe into a virtual bunker as he strove to protect his family against Cyclone Yasi.
The 37-year-old shooting guard was among the ex-pat New Zealand community hunkering down in far North Queensland yesterday as the category five cyclone approached landfall in Cairns.
After clearing the backyard, garaging the cars and fortifying the windows of their property in Kinimbal Heights, Jones and his wife Kat set up a makeshift bunker in their wardrobe for the couple and their three young children aged between 18 months and five years.
"We've set it up as a place we can bunk down in if we need to," he said. "It's the smallest and strongest room in the house. There's no windows, nothing that can fall down in there and hurt us."
While residents throughout the region have fled south or inland, Jones decided to ride out the storm.
Evacuation was contemplated briefly but there was still conjecture over whether his team, the Cairns Taipans, would play their Australian National Basketball League match against Perth tomorrow as scheduled.
The fixture was postponed yesterday afternoon as Jones was endeavouring to storm-proof his property.
"No one started to panic until yesterday and we were still unsure whether we were playing or not so I guess we couldn't go anywhere," he said.
Jones briefly favoured "jumping in the car" about 10am but with 100km/h winds forecast for midday - which never eventuated - the family decided to stay put and take cover.
He was confident his precautions were adequate - Jones has also stockpiled enough food and water in case utilities are disrupted, as anticipated.
Jones took solace from the fact his home is in a relatively new subdivision where the houses were built to withstand winds of 250km/h, though he was pensive when told gusts of around 300km/h were forecast.
- NZPA
