Browsing Tag
WINDSTORMS
4 posts
‘A love story’: rebuilding Darwin after Tracy
For two surviving sisters, the ongoing grief was evident, as a new memorial dedicated to those who died in Cyclone Tracy was unveiled in Darwin. Boxing Day marked the moment many families emerged from the rubble after the Northern Territory city was almost wiped off the map by Australia's most destructive cyclone. For Stephanie Brown, the loss of her baby sister fifty years on was still raw. On Wednesday, she reached out her hand and rubbed it against the stainless steel plaque that read Geraldine Elizabeth Brown. She was among hundreds gathered on a cool wet season morning in Darwin…
Darwin still marked by Cyclone Tracy, 50 years on
Soaring on monsoonal winds their arrival was an alarm. For the Tiwi people the sight of the frigatebirds was the first sign a cyclone was brewing off the coast of Darwin in 1974, but no one predicted the scale of destruction that would hit that Christmas Day. Cyclone Tracy displaced 36,000 people and officially claimed 66 lives, although others were lost in the aftermath of the devastation. Museum Art Gallery Northern Territory history curator Jared Archibald said Cyclone Tracy "put Darwin on the map". The curator of the revamped 'Remembering 50 years of Cyclone Tracy' said it was considered one…
NT residents evacuated as cyclone triggers flooding
Residents in the remote Northern Territory town of Borroloola have been evacuated after ex-Tropical Cyclone Megan swept through the community, leaving homes inundated. More than 100 people were evacuated from Borroloola to Darwin on Wednesday evening, with three more planes expected to take off on Thursday. Heavy rains brought on by ex-Tropical Cyclone Megan earlier in the week showed the McArthur River was likely to reach 18 metres - 3m above the river's record peak in 2001. #YourADF assisted Borroloola residents board a C-130J Hercules during #CycloneMegan evacuation operations. An #AusAirForce and #AusArmy engineering team also conducted a soil strength…
Ex-Tropical Cyclone Megan sweeps through inland NT
Major flooding and highway closures are expected as ex-Tropical Cyclone Megan continues to bring heavy winds and rain across the Northern Territory. Some 700 residents in the town of Borroloola faced the worst of the cyclone on Monday evening when it crossed the coast on the southwestern side of the Gulf of Carpentaria as a category 1 storm. The community had been due to evacuate before the cyclone but RAAF aircraft were unable to land because of severe conditions. Residents were instead told to shelter at the police station, health facility or dozens of dwellings capable of withstanding a category…