Like Birmingham, Darwin, Australia is a relatively young city. An outpost was formed there in 1869, but it did not become a city until 1959. In 1974, it boasted a population of around 49,000 people. It is on the north coast of Australia, on the Timor Sea. It is built on low bluffs surrounding a harbor. Offshore, two major islands lie to the north, Bathurst Island, and Melville Island.
On the morning of December 21, 1974, residents and government officials kept an eye on a developing tropical low some 200 miles northeast of the port city. It was moving southwest in their general direction, but the weather bulletins did not spoil the holiday preparations. After all, Cyclone Selma has affected the area two weeks before, but had amounted to nothing more than a little wind and rain. At 10 p.m. local time, the system was upgraded to a cyclone and given the name Tracy.
A Cyclone Warning was issued on the evening of the 22nd. Residents on Bathurst and Melville Islands were warned to prepare for gusts to 75 mph, heavy rains and storm tides. On the morning of the 23rd, the slow moving cyclone was about 40 miles west of Snake Bay on Melville Island, or about 100 miles NNW Of Darwin, still steaming slowly SW. Flooding rains, high tides and destructive winds were forecast for the islands. That evening, Tracy had put a little more distance between her and Darwin and advices carried no concern for the port city. On Christmas Eve morning, the cyclone was 70 miles WNW of Darwin and had turned south, rounding the tip of Bathhurst Island. The weather deteriorated in Darwin during the afternoon with a low overcast of clouds scudding along in a fresh wind and bursts of rainfall. Still, people were unconcerned about the storm. But the storm was turning directly for Darwin.
At 10 p.m., a Flash was issued. The bulletin stated that the cyclone would cross the coast near Darwin overnight with winds of 70 mph gusting to 95 mph Many people never heard the warning, as they were out at Holiday celebrations.
Gale force winds began at midnight. At 3:05 a.m., a wind gust of 135 mph was measured at the Darwin Airport as the anemometer failed. Seventy percent of the buildings in the town were destroyed. Forty nine people were killed in Darwin and another twenty two at sea by the tiny but ferocious storm, which officially ranked as a category four cyclone on the Australian scale. It likely was a five. Thirty thousand people were airlifted out of the city. It was rebuilt into a modern city in the late 1970s.
– Bill Murray
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