Dylan Thorne: It pays to be prepared

The only real signs of Pam's power were massive swells along the coast. Photo / Stephen Parker

After a week of warnings about Cyclone Pam, it passed us by with barely a whimper.

The only real signs of Pam's power were the massive swells that emerged along the coast.

The cyclone's path was far enough away from the Bay of Plenty that its impact paled in comparison to the trail of destruction and lives lost in Vanuatu. I'm thankful for that.

We took the warnings seriously at my house - perhaps a little too seriously.

Shade sails were taken down, our outdoor furniture and barbecue were moved into the garage.

The first aid kit was checked and restocked and we bought bottled water, a spare torch and extra batteries.

I even drove to Tauriko Dr on Sunday night to load up with free sandbags amid concerns about flooding and then found myself stacking heavy sandbags against our ranchsliders as the rain fell.

We were prepared for whatever nature threw at us, which, as it turned out, wasn't much.

If anything, Cyclone Pam showed that the science of predicting the weather has some way to go - especially when it comes to picking the path of a storm.

We might be able to track its progress live online and meteorologists may give their best guess as to how things will turn out but nature does her own thing.

And that's the point.

Our efforts may have been wasted this time but the cyclone could just as easily have veered closer to home and the situation would have been very different.

It pays to be prepared.

-Dylan Thorne lives in Tauranga and is deputy editor of the Bay of Plenty Times