Tornado victims sell their home

No going back: Kylie and Martin Strom have decided to sell their tornado-damaged Lennox Head home rather than live there.

Cathy Adams

Photos

Lennox Head tornado readers' photos (03/06/10)

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Photos

Lennox Head tornado Star photos (03/06/2010)

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AFTER going through the horror of having her Lennox Head residence shredded around her during the June tornado, it’s little wonder Kylie Strom can’t face the thought of returning to the beachfront property she and her husband once called home.

The couple had been in the three-bedroom house – called ‘Maheno’ after the wrecked ship on Fraser Island that gave the home its distinctive porthole window – more than four years when the tornado roared over them.

Mrs Strom said she was asleep in bed when the tornado hit the village, following a night of lying awake listening to the storm getting louder.

“It was loud enough when I was in bed for me to jump out ... just as the windows smashed in and ended up where I’d just been lying,” she said.

The wind from the tornado was so powerful, Mrs Strom said it created a vacuum that made it difficult to get the bedroom door open to escape the flying debris. Once she was out, she and her husband, Martin, fled the home and sheltered at a friend’s house, waiting for what they, at that point, thought was a cyclone, to end. It was only afterwards they realised what had hit them and how extensively it had damaged the village.

The couple is now renting at Lennox Head and they have decided to sell the home rather than go back to the memories of the tornado.

Real estate agent Leonie Harvey and property manager Deb Lane, both from Elders Lennox Head, said they knew of a few people understandably traumatised by their brush with the tornado.

However, Ms Harvey said most home owners hit by the tornado had chosen to stay and rebuild. Ms Lane, who looks after the agency’s rental properties, said the same was true of the village’s rental tenants – although the trauma had prompted a handful to move into the estate behind the main village.

There remained a few homes untouched since the tornado, however, Ms Harvey said that could generally be chalked up to delays in sorting out insurance and the heavy work–loads of local builders.

Ms Harvey said there was a strong sense of optimism in the village as the damaged homes were steadily replaced or repaired.

“Lennox has always been a wonderful place to live and the rebuilding just improves the whole area,” she said.

To inquire about the Strom’s property, which is going for about $1.35 million, call Martin on 0411 857 785.