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On This Day in 1974: Cyclone Tracy Hits Darwin, Australia
December 30, 2020 at 02:49 PM EST
By WeatherBug's Christopher Smith
Christmas in 1974 was devastating for residents of northern Australia, as a strong tropical cyclone tore across the city of Darwin. Cyclone Tracy made landfall early on Christmas and completely changed the face of the city.
Darwin, Australia sits on a peninsula that juts into the Timor Sea, making it more prone to tropical cyclones forming in the nearby tropical waters. In fact, another Cyclone, Selma, preceded Tracy by just a few days.
Tracy would form on December 21 a few hundred miles northeast of Darwin. Over the next day or two it slowly moved southwestward. However, as Tropical Cyclone Selma had just missed the city, media broadcasts initially gave the same threat forecast for Tracy, and as a result residents continued their Christmas preparations. Early on Christmas Eve, hurricane force winds were measured as Tracy pushed by nearby Cape Fourcroy, around the same time a Flash Cyclone Warning was issued for landfall, expected early Christmas Day.
The weather quickly deteriorated as the clock struck Midnight and Christmas began. 60 mph wind gusts began ravaging the Darwin area and just a couple of hours later, reports of damage and radio signal were lost. Around 3 a.m. local time, the Darwin airport measured a top wind gust of nearly 135 mph before the anemometer failed. By 4 a.m., the eye of Category 4 Cyclone Tracy was overhead the airport and a pressure of 950 mb was recorded.
Cyclone Tracy delivered mass destruction to the Darwin area, with about 80 percent of the city destroyed and contact with the outside world initially severed. With tens of thousands left homeless, the decision was made to evacuate much of the population of the city. More than 35,000 people left town over the next week, leaving just 10,638 people. At least 65 lives were lost as a result of the storm and damage estimates in today’s currency are between 2 to 4 billion Australian dollars.
While Darwin would rebuild and reach its pre-storm population within 5 years, as much as 60 percent of the city’s residents would never return to the region. However, Tracy became a part of the popular culture of the nation, not just as a storm. A 1986 mini-series named Cyclone Tracy took place during the storm, and numerous songs have been written about life in Darwin during and after the cyclone.
Sources: bom.gov.au, nccarf.edu.au
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Story Image: Cyclone Tracy seen by the ESSA-8 satellite on December 25, 1974 (NASA/Wikimedia Commons).
Darwin, Australia sits on a peninsula that juts into the Timor Sea, making it more prone to tropical cyclones forming in the nearby tropical waters. In fact, another Cyclone, Selma, preceded Tracy by just a few days.
Tracy would form on December 21 a few hundred miles northeast of Darwin. Over the next day or two it slowly moved southwestward. However, as Tropical Cyclone Selma had just missed the city, media broadcasts initially gave the same threat forecast for Tracy, and as a result residents continued their Christmas preparations. Early on Christmas Eve, hurricane force winds were measured as Tracy pushed by nearby Cape Fourcroy, around the same time a Flash Cyclone Warning was issued for landfall, expected early Christmas Day.
The weather quickly deteriorated as the clock struck Midnight and Christmas began. 60 mph wind gusts began ravaging the Darwin area and just a couple of hours later, reports of damage and radio signal were lost. Around 3 a.m. local time, the Darwin airport measured a top wind gust of nearly 135 mph before the anemometer failed. By 4 a.m., the eye of Category 4 Cyclone Tracy was overhead the airport and a pressure of 950 mb was recorded.
Cyclone Tracy delivered mass destruction to the Darwin area, with about 80 percent of the city destroyed and contact with the outside world initially severed. With tens of thousands left homeless, the decision was made to evacuate much of the population of the city. More than 35,000 people left town over the next week, leaving just 10,638 people. At least 65 lives were lost as a result of the storm and damage estimates in today’s currency are between 2 to 4 billion Australian dollars.
While Darwin would rebuild and reach its pre-storm population within 5 years, as much as 60 percent of the city’s residents would never return to the region. However, Tracy became a part of the popular culture of the nation, not just as a storm. A 1986 mini-series named Cyclone Tracy took place during the storm, and numerous songs have been written about life in Darwin during and after the cyclone.
Sources: bom.gov.au, nccarf.edu.au
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Story Image: Cyclone Tracy seen by the ESSA-8 satellite on December 25, 1974 (NASA/Wikimedia Commons).