page_title: Cyclone Tracy
section_title: Impact
hierarchical_section_title: Cyclone Tracy / Impact
caption_attribution_description: Photograph of HMAS Arrow beached in Francis Bay in early 1975
context_page_description: Cyclone Tracy was a tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia from 24 to 26 December 1974.
  The small, developing easterly storm had been observed passing clear of the city initially, but then turned towards it early on 24 December. After 10:00 p.m. ACST, damage became severe, and wind gusts reached 217 kilometres per hour before instruments failed. Residents of Darwin were celebrating Christmas, and did not immediately acknowledge the emergency, partly because they had been alerted to an earlier cyclone that passed west of the city. Additionally, news outlets had only a skeleton crew on duty over the holiday.
  Tracy killed 71 people, caused A$837 million in damage, or approximately A$6.85 billion, or $4.79 billion 2018 USD. It destroyed more than 70 percent of Darwin's buildings, including 80 percent of houses. It left more than 25,000 out of the 47,000 inhabitants of the city homeless prior to landfall and required the evacuation of over 30,000 people, of whom many never returned. After the storm passed, the city was rebuilt using more stringent standards "to cyclone code".
context_section_description: Cyclone Tracy killed at least 66 people. Two Royal Australian Navy (RAN) sailors died when HMAS Arrow, an Attack-class patrol boat, sank at Stokes Hill Wharf. The storm also caused the substantial destruction of the city of Darwin. At Darwin Airport, thirty-one aircraft were destroyed and another twenty-five badly damaged. The initial estimate put the reported death toll at 65, but it was revised upwards in March 2005 to 71, when the Northern Territory Coroner proclaimed that those six who still remained listed as missing had "perished at sea".
  Several factors delayed the dissemination of the news of the cyclone's impact. The destruction of transportation infrastructure and the distance between Darwin and the rest of the Australian population played a role, as did the fact the storm made landfall on Christmas Day and most media outlets had only a skeleton crew rostered on at best. Most Australians were not aware of the cyclone until late in the afternoon.  Dick Muddimer, a reporter for the local ABC station, 8DR, was able to travel through the wreckage to local television station NTD and had the ABC station in Mount Isa, Queensland notify ABC headquarters in Sydney that Darwin had been hit by a cyclone.
  In order to provide the initial emergency response, a committee was created. The committee, composed of several high-level public servants and police, stated that, "Darwin had, for the time being, ceased to exist as a city". Gough Whitlam, the Australian Prime Minister, was touring Syracuse, Sicily at the time and flew to Darwin upon hearing of the disaster. Additionally, the Australian government began a mass evacuation by road and air; all of the Defence Force personnel throughout Australia, along with the entire Royal Australian Air Force's fleet of transport planes, were recalled from holiday leave and deployed to evacuate civilians from Darwin, as well as to bring essential relief supplies to the area. Thirteen RAN ships were used to transport supplies to the area as part of Operation Navy Help Darwin; the largest humanitarian or disaster relief operation ever performed by the Navy.
caption: HMAS Arrow beached in Francis Bay March 1975
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