'She was in shock': Mum captures daughter's excitement at seeing rain for the first time
A Queensland mother and grazier has captured the exciting moment her daughter saw rainfall at their drought-stricken property for the first time in her life.
Emma Sewell was at her Moranbah home with her daughter, 14-month-old Lacey, on Monday when the heavens opened up over their house for a brief 15 minutes.
The family has seen well below yearly average rainfall for the last four-and-a-half-years.
Lacey could barely contain her excitement, prompting Ms Sewell, 27, to snap a photo of the adorable toddler laughing as she splashed and stomped in puddles.
“She was in shock,” Ms Sewell told Yahoo News Australia, noting her daughter seemed to be confused about how the water was falling from the sky.
“Once she realised, you just couldn’t stop her. She didn’t want to go inside.
“She was out there for two hours playing in the mud and puddles.
“It was just nice and we could just enjoy that moment.”
A video shows Lacey standing on the family’s verandah watching the rainfall with a confused look on her face. She then scrunches up her face in surprise when some of the raindrops fall on her face.
Ms Sewell and her husband, Brenton Sewell, 30, help their family run three cattle properties in the Moranbah area.
The 29,000 acre property the young family lives on is home to 1100 cattle, which they have been forced to hand-feed hay to every day because of the drought.
Ms Sewell said they recently had to start feeding hay to cattle on their second property and that their third – a 32k acre plot – was barely hanging amid the ongoing drought conditions.
They will more than likely be having to supply hay to all three properties by next month, Ms Sewell said.
“We haven’t received any decent rain for four plus years – just like everyone else,” she said.
A creek on the first property went dry two months ago and their closest dam is running very low, she said.
“The water situation is not looking very good for us.”
Ms Sewell said having Lacey during the drought has been “a whirlwind”, but that she has brought the couple joy in a trying time.
The 27-year-old said she is hoping the isolated rainfall seen this week is just the start and there’s more to come.
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