Cyclone Tracy

Cyclone Tracy was a tropical cyclone that devastated Darwin, Australia, from December 24 to December 25, 1974. It was recorded by The Age as being a "disaster of the first magnitude...without parallel in Australia's history." It killed 65 people and destroyed over 70 percent of Darwin's buildings, leaving over 20,000 people homeless. Most of Darwin's population was evacuated to Adelaide, Whyalla, Alice Springs and Sydney, and many never returned to Darwin. The town was subsequently rebuilt with modern materials and techniques. Cyclone Tracy was at least a Category 4 storm, although there is evidence to suggest that it had reached Category 5 when it made landfall at Darwin.

External links

• Northern Territory Library on Cyclone Tracy
• Collected oral histories of Cyclone Tracy
• Houses destroyed by Cyclone Tracy, Darwin, December, 1974 (picture) / Alan Dwyer.
• Meteorological Information
• Weather satellite image of Tropical Cyclone Tracy: Search for Trace in 1974 25 December 1974 (9.55am Darwin time, 0025 Greenwich Mean Time), over Darwin, Northern Territory, from NOAA 4.
• Records about Cyclone Tracy from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology
• Formation of Cyclone Testing Station at James Cook University