The Cyclone Tracy

Cyclone Tracy came ashore Darwin, Australia on Christmas Eve 1974, damaging or destroying 90% of Darwin's buildings. The storm sustained maximum winds gusting from 148 to 187 miles per hour. Every tree in Darwin was stripped of its foliage. Rainfall totalled 8 inches. 21 vessels were sunk. Some residents took precaustions, but many did not, apparently based on the previous erratic behaviour of Cyclone Selma, which had been forecast to hit Darwin but had changed course. Looting was reported. Electricity, water, and telephone utilities were cut. News of the damage to Darwin was delayed for 10 hours by communications outages. Within six days, 35,000 of the city's 41,000 residents were evacuated by air or road. The airport was rapidly cleared, and Royal Australian Air Force and civilian aircraft airlifted food, water, and medicine in and refugees out to hospitals and camps in Queensland. Following the storm, the name "Tracy" was retired from the rotation of cyclone names. 66 people died, 160 were determined missing, 790 injuries were reported, and 36,000 were made homeless.