By Maddy Morwood, ABC
Daniel Spindler and his family had a lucky escape. Photo: ABC/Mackenzie Colahan
Daniel Spindler can't quite believe his luck - both good, and bad.
A series of decisions made by Spindler and his wife in the early hours of Friday saved them from a once-in-a-generation cyclone after a tree came crashing through their dining room.
"It all happened within five minutes," he said.
And it was by the skin of their teeth.
Spindler and his wife, along with their two young children and a 15-year-old Taiwanese exchange student, reside in Reedy Creek on Queensland's Gold Coast, which on Thursday evening was bearing the brunt of then-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
Spindler says it was all over in five minutes. Photo: ABC/Mackenzie Colahan
After securing the house, the father-of-two went to bed worried about the wind and the rain.
"It was pretty intense," he said.
After finally drifting off to sleep about 1am, he was awoken by his wife with a gentle nudge just a few hours later.
"She asked if I wanted to get up and have a bit of a look around the house," he said.
"The wind was just so loud, and so was the rain. It was a bit of a symphony between the two."
Walking towards the dining room, Spindler said he heard it before he saw it.
"Crack," he shouted, describing the noise the tree made as it pierced his roof.
He said at the time the sound didn't seem loud enough for the scale of the damage.
"I turned around, standing in the dining room and there was the tree," he said.
"It was a bit of a surreal moment."
Spindler says he heard the sound of the tree before he saw it. Photo: ABC/Mackenzie Colahan
Glass shatters onto bed
But the dining room wasn't the only destruction.
Unbeknownst to Spindler, just down the corridor, branches of the tree had compressed and shattered a window sending shards of glass into the couple's queen bed.
His wife, he said, was thankfully right behind him.
She had followed him down the corridor when he first got up.
"I wasn't sure if she was going to follow me or not," he said.
"But she wanted to put some boxes into the hallway."
The split-second decision meant the whole family was together and unhurt, huddled together in a room furthest from the dining room.
When the couple walked back to their bedroom to inspect the damage, the reality of their close call set in.
"There was huge jagged bits of glass, probably around the neck and head height," Spindler said, shaking his head in disbelief.
"We were like, 'woah, that was weird'.
"A bit surreal, but it happened within five minutes of the tree hitting."
These shards of glass were lying on the bed. Photo: ABC/Mackenzie Colahan
The family is now staying at an evacuation house in Broadbeach Waters.
Spindler said he was just glad everyone escaped unscathed.
"I can imagine the flooring is no good and there was several rooms pierced through the roof so it's all flooded through there," he said.
"But the main priority was to keep everyone safe."
And the 15-year-old Taiwanese exchange student staying with them?
"They slept through the whole thing," Spindler said.
- ABC
