Table of Contents
- 1 Why did Cyclone Tracy cause so much damage?
- 2 How do cyclones affect buildings?
- 3 How did Cyclone Tracy affect the economy?
- 4 How do you build a cyclone resistant building?
- 5 What changed after Cyclone Tracy?
- 6 What was the damage of Cyclone Tracy in Darwin?
- 7 What was the radius of Tropical Cyclone Tracy?
Why did Cyclone Tracy cause so much damage?
The damaging impacts of Cyclone Tracy were the result of a ‘direct hit’ on Darwin. Damage to buildings was worsened because Tracy was a slow moving storm resulting in extended periods of exposure to high winds.
What are the impacts of Cyclone Tracy?
Cyclone Tracy killed 71 people and caused A$837 million in damage (equivalent to around A$4.45 billion in 2014 value). Approximately 30,000 of Darwin’s residents were evacuated, mostly to Adelaide and Sydney, and many never returned to the city.
How do cyclones affect buildings?
Slow moving cyclones can take many hours to move past a particular location, causing extreme wind and rain that lasts up to 12 hours. Strong winds associated with cyclones can cause extensive property damage and turn loose items into wind-borne debris that can further damage buildings.
How many buildings did Cyclone Tracy destroy?
Tracy killed 71 people, caused A$837 million in damage (1974 dollars), or approximately A$6.85 billion (2018 dollars), or $4.79 billion 2018 USD. It destroyed more than 70 percent of Darwin’s buildings, including 80 percent of houses….Cyclone Tracy.
| Category 4 severe tropical cyclone (Aus scale) | |
|---|---|
| Dissipated | 26 December 1974 |
How did Cyclone Tracy affect the economy?
After the cyclone passed, approximately 60% of Darwin’s houses were destroyed beyond repair with only 6% considered immediately habitable. The estimated cost of the event is in the order of about $400-500 million (in 1974 dollars), which equates to between $2 billion and $4 billion in today’s money.
Can cyclones destroy buildings?
Such cyclones coupled with storm surges cause loss of lives and inflict severe damage to a variety of structures, houses, commercial buildings, industrial structures and many life-line installations.
How do you build a cyclone resistant building?
Use building layout with a simple regular shape, to avoid concentration of pressure. Build the roof at an angle of 30° to 45° to prevent it being lifted off by the wind. Avoid wide roof overhangs; separate the veranda structure from the house.
What did we learn from Cyclone Tracy?
Tracy highlighted the need for improved emergency management, including the dissemination of warnings, preparedness and response. It showed clearly that longer- term resilience does not lie simply in improved engineering standards, but also in the psychological welfare of individuals in the impacted community.
What changed after Cyclone Tracy?
Cyclone Tracy, which hit Darwin in the small hours of Christmas Day 1974, killed 71 people and devastated 80 per cent of the city. On 28 February 1975 the Whitlam government established the Darwin Reconstruction Commission, which effectively rebuilt the city within three years.
What was the lesson learned from Cyclone Tracy?
Most of the damage to residential buildings in those storms was suffered by houses constructed before 1980, while those built to modern codes, incorporating the lessons learned from Cyclone Tracy, suffered far less damage.
What was the damage of Cyclone Tracy in Darwin?
Although small, Cyclone Tracy passed directly over Darwin and did so while tracking very slowly—causing immense devastation, primarily wind damage and predominantly residential structural damage. Around 60 percent of the residential property was destroyed and more than 30 percent was severely damaged.
When did the Bureau of Meteorology publish the Cyclone Tracy report?
A comprehensive report was published by the Bureau in 1977: see Report on Cyclone Tracy December 1974 (pdf 6.4 MB). For more information see the (pdf). See also: Big Blow Up North by Kevin Murphy (5.75 MB pdf) Copyright held by Kevin Murphy and reproduced here with author’s permission.
What was the radius of Tropical Cyclone Tracy?
By world standards, Tracy was a small but intense tropical cyclone at landfall, the radius of gale force winds being only about 50 km. The anemometer at Darwin Airport recorded a gust of 217 km/h before the instrument was destroyed. Tracy was first detected as a depression in the Arafura Sea on 20 December 1974.