The small, developing easterly storm had initially appeared likely to pass clear of the city, but then turned towards it early on 24 December. They huddled, soaking wet and exposed to some of the ferocious wind, fearing for their lives. All told, of Darwin's 12,000 homes . Lillian Radulova for Daily Mail Australia Miraculously, they survived unharmed and Helen was evacuated to Melbourne where she later gave birth to their son. "[31], David Longshore, in the book Encyclopedia of Hurricanes, Typhoons, and Cyclones 2008 edition, states that Tracy's barometric pressure was as low as 914 mbar, but the actual lowest pressure was 950 mbar. This was supposedly due to the looming election. total damage bill topped $800 million (a colossal sum in 1974). Australian Associated Press However, in the 20 years leading up to Cyclone Tracy, the city had undergone a period of rapid expansion. Station manager Bob Hooper, who was an amateur radio operator, helped to establish communications using his own equipment. was swiftly organised, while many residents chose to drive out. On 20 December 1974, the United States' ESSA-8 environmental satellite recorded a large cloud mass centred over the Arafura Sea about 370 kilometres (230mi) northeast of Darwin. Cyclone Tracy had a pressure of 950 hPA and Cyclone Yasi, which crossed the North Queensland coast in 2011, registered 929 hPA. However, the government insisted that it be rebuilt in the same location. Additionally, news outlets had only a skeleton crew on duty over the holiday. 40 years on, hundreds of people are preparing to come together to remember the storm, that hit the home city of 48,000 people, and acknowledge those who took part in the reconstruction effort and shaped Darwin into the modern city it is today. 'It was going to be just another big storm, everyone reckoned, and the city was used to those storms so she went out to a Christmas party with some work friends.'. force winds being only about 50 km. Cyclone Tracy: hundreds commemorate 40th anniversary of Darwin disaster Indigenous elder warns memorial gathering that disrespect for Mother Earth could rouse ancient spirit who may bring. The events of 1974 remain indelibly marked in Australias cultural memory. The anemometer at Darwin Airport recorded a gust of 217 km/h before the instrument was destroyed. into hundreds of millions of dollars. [5] Crane - the meteorological duty officer at the time - issued the initial tropical cyclone alert, describing the storm as a tropical low that could develop into a tropical cyclone. Cyclone Tracy Cyclone Tracy Victim Since March 2020 life as we know it has changed forever due to the coronavirus COVID-19 Local businesses are adjusting to the 'New Normal', please check with the advertised contact for any updates or changes to an advertised service. accounting for 71 lives, the destruction of most of Darwin and profoundly affecting the Australian perspective Many residents continued to prepare for Christmas, and many attended Christmas parties, despite the increasing winds and heavy rain. Later in the evening, the Darwin meteorological office received an infrared satellite image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's satellite, NOAA-4, showing that the low pressure had developed further and that spiralling clouds could be observed. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. On Christmas Day, the Darwin Hospital treated well over five hundred patients, with 112 of these being admitted into the hospital, and both of the facility's operating theatres being utilised. The Commission was headed by Tony Powell. Houses were ripped apart like nothing yet they were supposed to have been cyclone rated, people payed to build them and accredit them as cyclone proof, steel rods that were supposed to hold the roof and floors together, running up through the walls. Required fields are marked *. This disturbance was tracked by the Darwin Weather Bureau's regional director Ray Wilkie, and by senior meteorologist Geoff Crane. Darwin was rebuilt and now thrives as one of our most important She was also later put in charge of a clinic at Darwin High School which was the epicentre of the relief effort. One of the stories states that the Larrakia people sung to Old Man Rock for the cyclone, so it would come and destroy Darwin because their pleas for land rights werent being answered., Not necessarily all Larrakia people will believe that, but some do. The city itself was sprayed with malathion to control mosquitoes and other similar pests. The initial estimate put the reported death toll at 65, . 14:31 GMT 23 Dec 2014. Gough Whitlam, the Australian Prime Minister, was touring Syracuse, Sicily at the time and flew to Darwin upon hearing of the disaster. I had been told by a friend, a long time resident of the Top End, that her brother had bulldozed into pits, and covered, lots of bodies, and the real death toll was hundreds. [3][16] Of those, 25,628 were evacuated by air, the remainder by road. Episode Info The shocking extent of the destruction of the city of Darwin caused by cyclone Tracy is revealed; people that were amidst the cyclone gain consciousness and face their ravaged. Christmas Eve this year will mark 40 years since Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin in 1974, killing 71 people and causing (in today's terms) around AUD$4.45 billion worth of damage. A comprehensive report was published by the Bureau in 1977: see Report During the night we got out of the wardrobe and were all on a mattress under the bed,' Ms Peris said. Another of Cyclone Tracy's survivors, Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Peter Bate, believes he was more terrified due to knowing exactly what the super-cell could do. Thirteen RAN ships were used to transport supplies to the area as part of Operation Navy Help Darwin, which is the largest humanitarian or disaster relief operation ever performed by the Royal Australian Navy.[18]. CYCLONE TRACY'S DAMAGE 66 people killed 145 people admitted to hospital with serious injuries Another 500 people treated for minor injuries Winds were officially recorded at 217km/h before the. In the years that followed, Darwin was almost entirely rebuilt and now shows almost no resemblance to the pre-Tracy Darwin of December 1974. [30] Bruce Stannard of The Age stated that Cyclone Tracy was a "disaster of the first magnitude without parallel in Australia's history. It was only then, in the middle of 1978, that Darwins population reached its pre-cyclone levels. By 10a.m. Gary Gibson, another amateur operator, was able to establish a station at the Darwin Community College, and within a short period of time, a network of stations was established across the country. Cyclone Tracy was a tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, from 24 to 26 December 1974. It moved slowly southwest and intensified, passing close to Bathurst Island on the 23rd and 24th. Christmas Eve this year will mark 40 years since Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin in 1974, killing 71 people and causing (in todays terms) around AUD$4.45 billion worth of damage. Where: Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. [20] In Melbourne at the Boxing Day Test cricket match between Australia and England, members of both teams moved around the boundaries carrying buckets which the crowd threw cash into for the relief funds. Cyclone Tracy, 1974 Quick Statistics 71 Fatalities 650 Injured $200 million Insurance Costs 5000 Homes Destroyed Tropical Cyclone Tracy struck Darwin in the early hours of 25 December 1974; Tracy was rated Category 4. The only local radio station that wasn't completely disabled was the ABC's 8DR. However it is said that the death toll was downplayed and only people who were identified were counted in the death toll. However, by the 1980s, as many as sixty percent of Darwin's 1974 population had left, never to return. The destruction of transportation infrastructure and the distance between Darwin and the rest of the Australian population played a role, as did the fact the storm made landfall on Christmas Day and most media outlets had only a skeleton crew rostered on at best. This information was recorded by a Bureau of Meteorology staff member at the Darwin airport. For the Australian miniseries, see Cyclone Tracy (mini-series). Occupation: Military . Cyclone Selma had been predicted to hit Darwin earlier in the month, but it instead went north and dissipated without affecting Darwin in any way. At Darwin Airport, thirty-one aircraft were destroyed and another twenty-five badly damaged. But 66 people lost their lives and 70 per cent of homes were destroyed in the Northern Territory's capital city in 1974, when Cyclone Tracy unleashed her 217 kilometres per hour winds. Originally the death toll from Cyclone Tracy was put at 65. Cyclone Tracy was a tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day, 1974. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 'I will not allow myself to be happy, to have a home because to me, I'm just going to lose it,' Ms Kinang said. In 1974, Darwin had about 40,000 residents - about half of the Northern Territory population - and Tracy's official death toll reached 45 in Darwin with another 16 deaths at sea; 500 people were injured. It lists forty-nine names of those who died in the cyclone and the 13 who died at sea. total damage bill topped $800 million (a colossal sum in 1974). ABN 70 592 297 967|The National Museum of Australia is an Australian Government Agency, Australia's Defining Moments Digital Classroom, wind gusts reached 217 km/h before the anemometer was destroyed, gales extended to about 40 kilometres from the cyclones centre, there was a storm surge of 1.6 metres in Darwins harbour; an estimated 4 metres at Casuarina Beach, 255 mm of rain fell in 12 hours overnight, 145 mm in the two half-hour periods on either side of the eye of the cyclone, 145 people were seriously injured; more than 500 received minor injuries, about 70 per cent of houses suffered serious structural failure. Cyclone Tracy Batters Darwin - 1974 | Today in History | 24 Dec 16 4,640 views Dec 23, 2016 On December 24, 1974, Cyclone Tracy began battering the Australian city of Darwin, resulting in. Around 10,000 people left Darwin and the surrounding area within the first two days, but the rate of departures then began to slow down. The army was given the task of searching houses for bodies of people and animals, as well as locating other health risks; for example, cleaning out rotting contents from fridges and freezers across the city. Cyclone Tracy greatly affected the environment in many aspects. In February 1975, Whitlam announced the creation of the Darwin Reconstruction Commission, which was given the task of rebuilding the city "within five years", focusing primarily on building houses. In order to provide the initial emergency response, a committee was created. [7] The highest recorded wind gust from the cyclone was 217 kilometres per hour (135mph), which was recorded around 3:05a.m. at Darwin Airport. It's been 48 years since Cyclone Tracy wiped out Darwin on Christmas Eve . However, Cyclone Tracy, which hit Darwin in the small hours of Christmas Day 1974, was among the most destructive ever recorded in Australia. (Bunbury, p. 21). Dr Stack remembers sloshing through six inches of bloodstained water in the outpatients' ward at Darwin hospital, where more than 500 people sought medical assistance, in the days after Cyclone Tracy. People donated clothes and money, and opened their homes to Darwins refugees. This disturbance was tracked by the Darwin Weather Bureau's regional director Ray Wilkie, and by senior meteorologist Geoff Crane. Darwin had been severely battered by cyclones before; in January 1897 and again in March 1937. The small, developing easterly storm had been observed passing clear of the city initially, but then turned towards it early on 24 December. Mahina was a Category 5 cyclone, as are all cyclones with a central pressure of 929 hectopascals (hPa) or less. The bureau's weather station at Cape Fourcroy measured a mean wind speed of 120 kilometres per hour (75mph) at 9:00 that morning. buildings being totally destroyed or badly damaged, and very few escaping unscathed. The disaster that was Cyclone Tracy was about to unfold that Christmas Day in 1974, resulting in the deaths of 71 people and the destruction of 70 per cent of Darwin's homes. However, the government insisted that it be rebuilt in the same location. The above rankings are somewhat speculative. It was just howling and howling and the house never stopped moving. She recalled flopping backwards onto her bed only a split-second before a telephone box came hurtling through the window. Tropical Cyclone Tracy Bureau Home > Tropical Cyclones > About Northern Territory Cyclones > Cyclone Tracks and Impacts Tropical Cyclone Tracy 20 - 26 Dec 1974 NT cyclones | Alphabetical | Category | SOI | Longitude | Sea | Year | Season For a larger image of the above map click here top [an error occurred while processing this directive] Most Australians were not aware of the cyclone until late in the afternoon. It was thankfully received really well, he tells IF. Tropical Cyclone Tracy is arguably the most significant tropical cyclone in Australia's history Career journalist. On 21 December 1974, the ESSA-8 satellite showed evidence of a newly formed circular centre near latitude 8 south and longitude 135 east. The main benefit was the introduction of greatly improved building standards that would apply across the entire country. 9,000 homes were destroyed, out of a city of 43,500 people . Cyclone Tracy resulted in 71 deaths and 650 injuries. [1][3], Several factors delayed the dissemination of the news of the cyclone's impact. Cyclone Tracy was a tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, from 24 to 26 December 1974. However, by the 1980s, as many as sixty percent of Darwin's 1974 population had left, never to return. By [7] This was recorded during the eye of the cyclone. The tide was running out, saving coastal suburbs from cyclonic surges, such a factor in Hurricane Katrina's staggering death toll of more than 1800 people. The much feared Japanese invasion never happened, but the cyclone was virtually ignored and ended up destroying the city. I was sucked off my bed, down the length of the room and up towards the gaping hole in the roof.'. Coles worker fights a woman allegedly trying to steal groceries, Man ordered to take off a Jesus Saves t-shirt at Mall of America, Man knocked out by a pool cue in violent pub brawl, Locals desperately smash windows of overturned double-decker bus. The railway lines and roads in and around the town were damaged, isolating it from the surrounding regions and supplies. I was a bit nervous about that one, because there are some potentially controversial things in there, but the reception was actually very warm and very pleasing.. In fact, it achieved this in a little more than three years. In this extract, former Darwin resident LUDIJ PEDEN recounts her family's experience as the cyclone struck. The elevated house isn't sitting still. Later in the evening, the Darwin meteorological office received an infrared satellite image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's satellite, NOAA-4, showing that the low pressure had developed further and that spiralling clouds could be observed. E.P. Marcus is considered the city's. Cyclone Tracy, Darwin Fact sheet 176 Records relating to Cyclone Tracy Selected records relating to Cyclone Tracy held by the National Archives in Canberra, Sydney and Darwin are listed below. Small towns provided food and shelter as those travelling by road passed through. By 1978, much of the city had recovered and was able to house almost the same number of people as it had before the cyclone hit. On 28 February 1975 the Whitlam government established the Darwin Reconstruction Commission, which effectively rebuilt the city within three years. Tracy was found beaten to death in her apartment that she shared with her 18 month o. Wind gusts increased in strength; between 10p.m. (local time) and midnight, the damage became serious, and residents began to realise that the cyclone would not just pass by the city, but rather over it. The comments below have not been moderated, By Next minute the louvers were flying out the windows and were crashing onto the floor. Cyclone Tracy was a tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, from 24 to 26 December 1974. The storm with the lowest recorded pressure (870 hPa) was Typhoon Tip in 1979. Though building standards at the time required that some attention be given to the possibility of cyclones, most buildings were not capable of withstanding the force of a cyclone's direct hit. Fortunately for Darwin, flooding and 24/12- 13:00 storm surge were not major issues or these 24/12- 18:30 numbers could have been far higher. (Bunbury, p. 21)[13], Cyclone Tracy killed at least 71 people. This anniversary is important for those old enough to remember, and those who worry they might not be around for the 50th, Ms Kinang said. [7] From around 6:30a.m., the winds began to ease, with the rainfall ceasing at around 8:30a.m.[7] After making landfall, Tracy rapidly weakened, dissipating on 26 December.[7]. The storm also caused the substantial destruction of the city of Darwin. News of the disaster took hours to reach the rest of the country. The total damage bill ran Woodbury County Auditor seeks to assure voters that the checks and balances in the system work in the wake of alleged voter fraud in the county. destruction was probably inevitable anyway. Several new building codes were drawn up, trying to achieve the competing goals of the speedy recovery of the area and ensuring that there would be no repeat of the damage that Darwin took in 1974. Cyclone Tracy was a tropical cyclone that destroyed the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day, 1974.It is the most compact tropical cyclone on record in Australia, with the gale force winds reaching out only 48 km (30 mi) from the centre.It is the second most compact cyclone in the world. But as a result of Tracy , much more attention was given to building codes and There have been 13 tropical cyclones in the 21st century so far with a death toll of at least 1,000, of which the deadliest was Cyclone Nargis, with at least 138,373 deaths when it struck Myanmar. , updated [22] The damage to the city was so severe that some advocated moving the entire city. This decision was made on the advice of Dr. Charles Gurd, the Director of Health in the Northern Territory. [19] By 10:40a.m. VID operators had established VID2 on board the MV Nyanda in Darwin Harbour, and then for five days official communications traffic in and out of Darwin was handled via continuous wave radio (Morse code). The anemometer at Darwin Airport recorded a gust of 217 km/h before the Crane - the meteorological duty officer at the time - issued the initial tropical cyclone alert describing the storm as a tropical low that could develop into a tropical cyclone. Its a complex situation because some also believe that Old Man Rock protected the people so its kind of a mysterious connection.. Most Australians were not aware of the cyclone until late in the afternoon. Tracy was first detected as a depression in the Arafura Sea on 20 December 1974. During his show, he told the people how many bodies had been found, the government told him to retract his statement otherwise theyd have him in court until he was bankrupt. . Despite several warnings, the people of Darwin did not evacuate or prepare for the cyclone. You can also listen to the story in REAL AUDIO and WINDOWS MEDIA formats. The DVD is compatible with all region codes and includes special features such as newsreel footage of the devastation and a documentary titled On A Wind and a Prayer. The cyclone caused great devastation as so many buildings were destroyed, making thousands of people homeless. Major-General Alan Stretton, Director-General of the Natural Disasters Organisation,[8] and the Commonwealth Minister for the Northern Territory, Rex Patterson, arrived at Darwin Airport late on Christmas Day and took charge of the relief efforts. Social Cyclone Tracy killed 71 people and seriously injured over 100 people and caused over 500 minor injuries. After an assessment of the situation and meetings with the Department of the Northern Territory and the relevant minister, it was concluded that Darwin's population needed to be reduced to a "safe level" of 10,500 people. Bureau veteran Mark Williams believes the building boom of the early 1970s was partly to blame. The highest recorded wind gust from the cyclone was 217 kilometres per hour (135mph), which was recorded around 3:05a.m. at Darwin Airport. This clip shows the extensive destruction in the aftermath of Cyclone Tracy, one of the worst natural disasters in Australian history, which devastated Darwin on Christmas Eve in 1974. Cyclone Tracy TV Mini Series 1986 2 h IMDb RATING 7.4 /10 89 YOUR RATING Rate Drama Drama serial based on the devastation wreaked by Cyclone Tracy on an area of Darwin on 24th December 1974. Age: 90 (age at death) Nationality: Australian. Northern Territory authorities made no declaration of emergency, but the Insurance Council of Australia declared it a " catastrophe " for the Greater Darwin region. Cyclone Tracy inspired the song "Santa Never Made It into Darwin", composed by Bill Cate and performed by Bill and Boyd in 1975 to raise money for the relief and reconstruction efforts. but perhaps because it was Christmas eve, and perhaps because no severe cyclone had affected Darwin in many pdf) Copyright held by Kevin Murphy and reproduced here with author's permission. On 21 December 1974, the ESSA-8 satellite showed evidence of a newly formed circular centre near latitude 8 south and longitude 135 east. Cyclones > Severe Tropical Cyclone Tracy. 'I was thunderstruck because it was just a classical radar image of a cyclone with an eye and it wasn't very far away,' he told AAP. Cyclone Selma had been predicted to hit Darwin earlier in the month, but it instead went north and dissipated without affecting Darwin in any way. The Commission's mandate was to reconstruct Darwin within five years. After forming over the Arafura Sea, the storm moved southwards and affected the city with Category4 winds on the Australian cyclone intensity scale, while there is evidence to suggest that it had reached Category3 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale when it made landfall. Attempts to reconnect the essential services to the city began on Christmas Day. In the days and weeks following the disaster, most of the traumatised population left the city. Those who were considered unable to return to work within two weeks were evacuated by air to safer locations. The ship sank . Her grandmother was lying on a bed when intuition told her to move: 'Next thing a big sheet of iron from the roof of her neighbour's house speared through the window, and stuck in the mattress where Nana had been lying. Ella Stack became Mayor of Darwin in May 1975 and was heavily involved in its reconstruction. In 1986, the Nine Network and PBL created Cyclone Tracy, a period drama mini-series based on the events during the cyclone. By 10a.m. Gary Gibson, another amateur operator, was able to establish a station at the Darwin Community College, and within a short period of time, a network of stations was established across the country. By 1978, much of the city had recovered and was able to house almost the same number of people as it had before the cyclone hit. The storm was officially pronounced a tropical cyclone at around 10p.m. on 21 December, when it was around 200 kilometres (120mi) to the north-northeast of Cape Don (360 kilometres (220mi) northeast of Darwin). Cyclone Tracy resulted in 71 deaths and 650 injuries. Most were evacuated by air in the country's largest civil evacuation, 70 per cent of Darwin's homes were destroyed or suffered severe damage, All public services - communications, power, water and sewerage - were severed, At the airport, 31 planes were totally destroyed and another 25 severely damaged, Tree damage extended inland for about 80km and covered an area of almost 4000 sq km, It took almost five years for native birdsong to be regularly heard in the suburbs after the birds were wiped out, Estimates of the cost of damage ranged up to $800m (1974), Royal Family will find it 'impossible' to compromise with Sussexes, Rapidly growing cemetery filled with Vladimir Putin's 'prisoner army', Russian pro-war fanatic warns Britain could be 'wiped off the map', BBC Breakfast celebrates forty years of hilarious bloopers, Ken Bruce will be joining the Greatest Hits Radio family in April, As it happened: UK Government blocks Scotland's new gender law, Bungling helicopter pilot blows over stadium roof injuring eight. Several factors delayed the dissemination of the news of the cyclone's impact. The storm was the second-smallest tropical cyclone on record (in terms of gale-force wind diameter), behind only Tropical Storm Marco in 2008. [3][16] By 31 December, only 10,638 people (mostly men who were required to help clean up the city) remained in Darwin. There's continuous thunder and lightning. Michael Fisher, Ted Roberts and Leon Saunders wrote the series, and it starred Chris Haywood and Tracy Mann, who played the lead characters of Steve and Connie. [7] The Bureau of Meteorology's official estimates suggested that Tracy's gusts had reached 240 kilometres per hour (150mph). Australian Associated Press, Amongst them is Labor Senator Nova Peris, who was three years old when the cyclone hit her grandparent's home, Former Darwin mayor Dr Ella Stack, remembers wading through six inches of bloodstained water in a ward at Darwin hospital, where more than 500 people sought medical assistance in the days after Cyclone Tracy, Darwin will also hold a number of events to commemorate the anniversary, includinga multi-faith church service, a government-organised reunion and a screening of a new ABC documentary on the storm, 145 people admitted to hospital with serious injuries, Another 500 people treated for minor injuries, Winds were officially recorded at 217km/h before the Bureau of Meteorology anemometer was destroyed, Darwin's population of 45,000 reduced to 10,000. extremely powerful winds, and the loose design of many buildings at that time, was such that wholesale Resident Dawn Lawrie, a 1971 independent candidate for the electorate of Nightcliff, told him: We'd had a cyclone warning only 10 days before Tracy [that another cyclone] was coming, it was coming, and it never came. Cyclone Tracy Victim by Brian Graham (Sydney) on Cyclone Tracy December 1974. 41 List of text boxes Text Box 1. The initial estimate put the reported death toll at 65, but it was revised upwards in March 2005 to 71, when the Northern Territory Coroner proclaimed that those six who still remained listed as missing had "perished at sea". On 25 December at around 3:30a.m., Tracy's centre crossed the coast near Fannie Bay. Several new building codes were drawn up, trying to achieve the competing goals of the speedy recovery of the area and ensuring that there would be no repeat of the damage that Darwin took in 1974. Most of Darwins population, herself included, emerged from the cyclone in a state of shock. AM - NT coroner hands down finding on Cyclone Tracy deaths Transcript This is a transcript from AM. Tropical Cyclone Tracy was the worst of them all By Chris McLennan Updated March 27 2017 - 4:02am, first published 3:51am View + 4 Photos RELATED: Tourist dies in crash: Debbie 'to be worse than Yasi' Chris McLennan National Rural Property Writer ACM national rural property writer based in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria. Even though the cyclone is considered small in world standards', stretching with a radius of just 50km, Tracy was very intense. Local teams worked without relief until the arrival of a surgical team from Canberra late that day. The committee, composed of several high-level public servants and police, stated that, "Darwin had, for the time being, ceased to exist as a city". Five days before Christmas 1974, satellite images showed evidence of a tropical depression in the Arafura Sea, 700 kilometres north-east of Darwin. The death toll was increased to 71 in 2005 after the Coroner declared the six people who still remained listed as . Blown Away will screen on ABC1 on 8.30pm on December 23. In October 1970, the Bhola cyclone struck what is now Bangladesh and killed at least 300,000 people. Tracy killed 71 people, caused A$837million in damage (1974 dollars), or approximately A$7.2billion (2022 dollars), or US$5.2 billion (2022 dollars). On Christmas Day 1974, Cyclone Tracy ripped through Darwin, leaving the city in ruins. Despite several warnings, the people of Darwin did not evacuate or prepare for the cyclone. On 31 December 1974, Stretton recommended that full civilian control should resume in Darwin, and handed over control of the city to its elected officials. Depending on the sources, between 65 and 71 people died in cyclone Tracy. Joan Allridge, Vice President of the Red Cross who spent the hours of the cyclone under her kitchen table with two other adults, six children, one cat, four kittens, one dog and three birds recalled how essential those early fly-in support workers were. See also: Big Blow Up North by Kevin Murphy (5.75 MB For cyclone impacts reported by EM-DAT, zeroes were treated as missing values because they were used as placeholders and their inclusion in the analysis could contribute to the under estimation of tsunami impacts.
cyclone tracy deaths