Cyclone Tracy 1974

[gobbledock]

Background

I don’t want to thread drift but thought I would throw in some background info for those who are not familiar with this event. There are a lot of younger generation around today who do not know much about the cyclone, and there are a lot of now nationalised Aussies who likewise don’t know the history of this event. I think this will be an excellent historical thread about an even many of us will not only ever forget, but it was an event that redefines Australia and also saw the complete change in building construction that could have never been foretold.

Fris B Fairing I am sure a number of us will be watching this thread with interest as bits and pieces of information start coming in and jogging our memories.

Cyclone Tracy was a tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day, 1974. It is the most compact cyclone or equivalent-strength hurricane on record in the Australian basin, with gale-force winds extending only 48 kilometers (30 mi) from the center and was the most compact system worldwide until 2008 when TS Marco of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season broke the record, with gale-force winds extending only 19 kilometers (12 mi) from the center . After forming over the Arafura Sea, the cyclone moved southwards and affected the city with Category 4 winds on the Australian cyclone intensity scale, while there is evidence to suggest that it had reached Category 3 on the Saffir – Simpson hurricane scale when it made landfall
Tracy killed 71 people, caused $837 million in damage (1974 AUD) and destroyed more than 70 percent of Darwin's buildings, including 80 percent of houses. Tracy left more than 41,000 out of the 47,000 inhabitants of the city homeless prior to landfall and required the evacuation of over 30,000 people. Most of Darwin's population was evacuated to Adelaide, Whyalla, Alice Springs and Sydney, and many never returned to the city. After the storm passed, the city was rebuilt using more modern materials and updated building techniques. Bruce Stannard of The Age newspaper stated that Cyclone Tracy was a "disaster of the first magnitude ... without parallel in Australian history.