A Violent Tropical Storm Demolishes the Abdominal Region

There have been cyclones in Australia with winds as strong as or stronger than Cyclone Tracy’s, but they were less destructive because none had crossed the coast directly over a large urban centre. Fortunately, there was a low tide at the time the cyclone struck. Experts believe that if there had been a normal high tide the loss of life in the storm surge flooding would have been greater than that caused by the gale-force winds. Most of the people living in Darwin sheltered in their homes as Tracy struck. There were sixty-five deaths and thousands of houses were destroyed. Nearly twelve hours before Cyclone Tracy struck, the residents of Darwin were given a warning that it was heading towards them. They had time to take precautions. Many people, however, discounted the warning because a similar warning had been given a month earlier but the cyclone had veered away from the city. Once the extent of the disaster became known a major relief effort was mounted. A massive airlift, using military and commercial aircraft, evacuated all but essential personnel.

Builders and other tradespeople were flown into Darwin from all around Australia to re-establish essential services and repair damaged buildings. The reconstruction of buildings destroyed by the cyclone took much longer to complete. It took nearly two years for Darwin to recover from the disaster. Most of the buildings that survived the cyclone were office blocks, older brick buildings or single-storey homes. When the city was rebuilt the new houses and other buildings were designed to withstand cyclone-strength winds.