Many residents continued to prepare for Christmas, and many attended Christmas parties, despite the increasing winds and heavy rain. E.P. 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. During Cyclone Tracy in 1974, 70% of Darwin’s houses suffered severe damage (90% in some areas), causing 65 deaths and damage worth hundreds …

The mini-series was released on DVD by Umbrella Entertainment in December 2005. Vehicles flipped by Cyclone Tracy. The antennas at the OTC Coastal Radio Service station (callsign VID) were destroyed during the storm.

Thelma was the first known Category 5 cyclone to be observed in the Timor Sea, and was also the most intense cyclone to threaten Darwin since Cyclone Tracy on Christmas Eve in 1974. Cyclone Tracy, which hit Darwin in the small hours of Christmas Day 1974, killed 71 people and devastated 80 per cent of the city. Over the next few days, the cyclone moved in a southwesterly direction, passing north of Darwin on 22 December. 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. Many left widespread destruction in their wake.

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 utilized.

By world standards, Tracy was a small but intense tropical cyclone at landfall, the radius of gale force winds being only about 50 km.

Most of those who lost their lives were killed by flying debris or crushed beneath their houses. Thirteen ships of the Royal Australian Navy were used to transport supplies to the area as part of Operation Navy Help Darwin; the largest humanitarian or disaster relief operation ever performed by the Navy. The main benefit was the introduction of greatly improved building standards that would apply across the entire country. On 20 December 1974, the United States' ESSA-8 environmental satellite recorded a large cloud mass centred over the Arafura Sea about 370 kilometres (230 mi) northeast of Darwin. total damage bill topped $800 million (a colossal sum in 1974). Those who remained in Darwin faced the threat of several diseases due to much of the city being without water, electricity or basic sanitation. Darwin, with a population of 47,000 at the time, was decimated. Winds of Fury: The Full True Story of the Great Darwin Disaster, Keith Cole, Rigby, Adelaide, 1977.

Every tree in the city was either uprooted or left bare by Cyclone Tracy. Cyclone Tracy became a named storm Dec. 21 when it was 124 miles away from Cape Don. At major airports, teams of federal and territory department officials as well as Salvation Army and Red Cross workers met refugees, with the Red Cross taking responsibility for keeping track of the names and temporary addresses of the refugees. The Bureau of Meteorology's official estimates suggested that Tracy's gusts had reached 240 km/h (150 mph). It razed the Northern Territory capital of Darwin to the ground in 1974 and killed 65 people, injuring a further 145 people seriously and more than 500 with varying minor injuries. Several factors delayed the dissemination of the news of the cyclone's impact. Evacuations were prioritised according to need; women, children, and the elderly and sick were evacuated first. This was completed within a week. {C The shallow waters of the Timor Sea were very warm and caused the storm to intensify into a Category 3 storm by the time the cyclone made landfall on Christmas Eve. This was recorded during the eye of the cyclone. Stretton also regulated access to the city by means of a permit system.

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. The Commission's mandate was to reconstruct Darwin within five years. It hit Darwin, in Australia's Northern Territory, in the early hours of Christmas Day 1974. Then it turned sharply to the east southeast, and headed straight at Darwin, striking the city early on Christmas Day.

The much feared Japanese invasion never happened, but the cyclone was virtually ignored and ended up destroying the city.
In 1986, the Nine Network and PBL created Cyclone Tracy, a period drama mini-series based on the events during the cyclone.

Cyclone Tracy was rated a Category 4 cyclone. These included requirements that buildings be clad to protect them against flying debris, and that their roofs be tied to the foundations.

By world standards, Tracy was a small but intense tropical cyclone at landfall, the radius of gale force winds being only about 50 km.

The total damage bill ran into hundreds of millions of dollars. 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". Local officers from the Commonwealth Department of Housing and Construction began clearing debris and working to restore power. From around 6:30 a.m, the winds began to ease, with the rainfall ceasing at around 8:30 a.m. Darwin had been severely battered by cyclones before; in January 1897 and again in March 1937. Operating continued throughout the night and into the early morning.

On 21 December 1974, the ESSA-8 satelite showed evidence of a newly formed circular centre near latitude 8° south and longitude 135° east. The storm also caused the substantial destruction of the city of Darwin. Local teams worked without relief until the arrival of a surgical team from Canberra late that day. There were 41,000 people left homeless and more than 35,000 evacuated after the storm.

At Darwin Airport, thirty-one aircraft were destroyed and another twenty-five badly damaged.

Cyclone Tracy, because of its severity, has entered into the popular culture of Australia in a way that no other meteorological event has ever before, or has since.
Unfortunately, this would only contribute to Cyclone Tracy becoming the deadliest tropical cyclone in Australian history. 42 years ago a category 3 hurricane that turned into a category 4 tropical cyclone went through Tiwi Islands but mostly Darwin. Had it struck during the daytime, the death toll could have been much higher. 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.

This disturbance was tracked by the Darwin Weather Bureau's regional director Ray Wilkie, and by senior meteorologist Geoff Crane.

Create your own unique website with customizable templates. Additionally, the Australian government began a mass evacuation by road and air; all of the Defence Force personnel throughout Australia, along with the entire Royal Australian Air Force's fleet of transport planes, were recalled from holiday leave and deployed to evacuate civilians from Darwin, as well as to bring essential relief supplies to the area. The anemometer at Darwin Airport recorded a gust of 217 km/h before the instrument was destroyed. Most of Darwin's population was evacuated to Adelaide, Whyalla, Alice Springs and Sydney, and many never returned to the city.

The storm was officially pronounced a tropical cyclone at around 10 p.m. on 21 December, when it was around 200 kilometres (120 mi) to the north-northeast of Cape Don (700 km or 435 mi northeast of Darwin). Tracy was first detected as a depression in the Arafura Sea on 20 December 1974.

The meteorological duty officer at the time, Geoff Crane, issued the initial tropical cyclone alert describing the storm as a tropical low that could develop into a tropical cyclone.

A broadcast on ABC Radio that day stated that Cyclone Tracy posed no immediate threat to Darwin. Trench latrines were dug; water supplies delivered by tankers, and mass immunisation programs begun.

In Melbourne at the Boxing Day Test cricket match, members of both teams moved around the boundaries carrying buckets which the crowd threw cash into for the relief funds.

After the storm passed, the city was rebuilt using more modern materials and updated building techniques. Wind gusts increased in strength; between 10 p.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. On 28 February 1975 the Whitlam government established the Darwin Reconstruction Commission, following the Prime Minister's pledge to make 'a determined and unremitting effort to rebuild your city and relieve suffering'. The entire life of Darwin was catastrophically disrupted with the majority of buildings being destroyed or badly damaged and a lucky few untouched. Many people were caught unprepared.

The Commission was headed by Tony Powell. An initial response was to vaccinate residents for typhoid and cholera.

Wind gust of 217kph was recorded before anemometer at Darwin Airport failed. In the days and weeks following the disaster, most of the traumatised population left the city. It was small but intense, the radius of the galeforce winds was only 50km. Tropical Cyclone Tracy is the most significant tropical cyclone in Australia's History. Warnings were issued, but perhaps because it was Christmas eve, and perhaps because no severe cyclone had affected Darwin in many years - many residents were caught unprepared. Voluntary organisations swung into gear, many sending in teams as soon as news of the disaster broke. Many of the government records associated with Cyclone Tracy became publicly available on 1 January 2005 under the 30 year rule.

By 31 December, only 10,638 people (mostly men who were required to help clean up the city) remained in Darwin. Cyclone Tracy is a 1986 Australian drama mini series about Cyclone Tracy. Cyclone Tracy is a 1986 Australian drama mini series about Cyclone Tracy.