CycloneTracy 1974 (Santa Never Made It Into Darwin)

[craicrazy]

how can we bloody stay calm!

[IvyVolturi297]

Seeing Darwin like this in the video is just horrifying. Kids have dreaded all year for a present from Santa. But never got one because of the cyclone. Things like earthquakes, floods and all that stuff are ruining our lives. Some of us don't have insurance. What if we were flooded? What would you do? Things like this kill our loving family. No funeral or home insurance. Things would get worse.

[smeedog69]

i was 5 yo at the time, and living in Canberra. My main memory of Tracy was Humphrie B Bear and Santa came knocking on the door looking for donations. I ran into my room and grabbed my Piggy banck and a few toys that i was given for christmas to give to the kids that lost all thiers.

[smilescy]

As far as tie down rods, we saw houses with these rods. There was one on the corner across from the Casuarina shopping mall and it was flattened. We were in a single story brick 3 bedroom house, so one of the lucky ones. Also my dad new to open the louvers from the opposite side of the eye to avoid pressure building up in the house and avoiding an implosion.

Those stilt houses had walls made out of asbestos from memory, another reason why they went over.

[smilescy]

Wow it's weird looking back. I still have a couple dozen photos we took the morning of Christmas day around Jingly and Casuarina.

I was ten and we got on our bikes and road around the suburbs. I remember finding a greyhound crushed under an iron telephone pole.

[codex09]

I still remember having kids from Darwin come to our school in Sydney while their city/lives were rebuilt & if there is only 1 thing that aussies do well that is pulling together when things like this happen!

Still get sad when I see what happened though & Darwin is now bigger & better than it ever was....

[TheGreatDinahSHORE]

So sad what happened that day and may God rest the souls of all those who died...

however....DARWIN SURVIVED!!! :-)))

and is a big beautiful city today :-)))

[290948kenwong]

to all concerned with Tracy, compared to yasi, building codes have been greatly upgraded since 1974. Just look at the table tops or floors left of the high set houses and you can see that there was no cyclone tie down rods in these homes. A virtual criminal act by the ignorant councils and moron builders who didn't give a damn. At least I hope it's a lot learned. K.J. Edmonton.

[patcat011]

I believe that if Yasi was a C5 storm then what the hell force was Tracy ,because the damage even to solid concrete buildings was far worse than anything seen anywhere else so far .I have found no other film of cyclone or harricane damage that has matched the damage Tracy put out.I was there and have been storm watching ever since.

[jaslester2009]

Yasi had NOTHING on Tracey**

[Rachy2049]

My Mum wasn't in Darwin, but she heard about the cyclone right after it happened because her Dad was in the navy. I just finished reading a book about cyclone Tracy, and I can't begin to imagine how bad it must have been to the people of Darwin, it was insane.

[HorseLoberr]

As a survivor of cyclone Tracy, I took considerable offence to Bligh stating that Yasi was far worse than cyclone Tracy...How?

What a unfortunate comment to make given the considerable loss of life by Tracy; 71 dead, many injured and horrendous damage far exceeding what we have seen from Yasi. 900 million dollars at 1974 value of damage with 90% of homes decimated.

41,000 out of the 47,000 inhabitants found themselves homeless and it required the evacuation of over 30,000 people. 

[theyALLfellDEAD]

the picture at 3:31, there is a water tower yes?

back then refridurators were heavy beats.

one flew into that tower. there is an impression of a fridge, handel and all.

[HorseLoberr]

@theyALLfellDEAD I saw the marks, its true..there was also reports of cars hitting the 5th storey of the Travel Lodge on the Esplanade and landing in the pool.

[wingysmissus]

this is soo incredible! I just can't even begin to fathom - if Tracey did this much damage imagine the state FNQ will be in tomorrow :(

[lank05]

@wingysmissus Yeh it's going to be another devistating event :( My thoughts are with those in North QLD tonight.

[HorseLoberr]

@wingysmissus I would have rather gone through 10 Yasi's without loss of life over that of cyclone Tracy which took at least 71 lives and many still on the missing list.

I remember crawling out from the rubble and seeing the ocean from Wanguri over towards Tiwi. About a week later we had C130 flying really low spraying to stop disease. Also you hear gun shots going off all dayshooting looters and stray dogs!

[wingysmissus]

@HorseLoberr omgoodness :( Tracy happened 2 years before my time, so all I know is what i've read and seen in pictures, and I have to say I agree with you. It is truly amazing that there was not fatalities in TCYasi (or has there been now? I am not up to date at the moment not since yesterday morning so I haven't heard anything) Tracy although smaller in size was imo far far worse, and amazing are the souls to survive it and the aftemath of it

[HorseLoberr]

@wingysmissus Tracy was a small cyclone with a massive punch and winds gusts reported to be over 300Km. We lost our house 23:30 on Christmas eve and sheltered in the rubble underneath the house. We came out like the walking dead around 6:30am Christmas day and sheltered in the un finished Wanguri primary school. At the time we thought we were the only people left alive. I think there has unfortunately been a death of a young man to Yasi...very sad. All they can do is stick together and rebuild!

[wingysmissus]

@HorseLoberr oh that is so sad :( I bet it was the scariest thing you've ever had to go through - at least I hope it is! :( It's stories like yours that make me proud to be Australian. The spirit we have is amazing. to soldier on and endure whatever life and natures sends, and come out smiling (eventually!) thank you for sharing :)

[celinebritgirl]

My young cousin John died in cyclone Tracy. Since then I've been trying to find the rest of his family. Does anyone know how I could find out where they went? I live in Canada and I would appreciate your ideas.

[lank05]

@celinebritgirl Facebook - you may find them on there..

[OZSlayer]

I was 4 living with my parents, its still a vivid memory, to this day I will never forget the sound, its was like it was alive. We survived by hiding under a bed that was on top of a whelping box. If wasn't for the fact that the only wall left was jammed in to the steel stair case which pinned the bed down my family would have been blown away. Our neighbours house was stripped to the floor boards. We never found much after and the bath and fridge was never seen again. Hope no body has to see it,

[liveliam1]

@OZSlayer My mother was 5 and she was underneath a mattress.. They were in a brick wall house though..

[oldbag010101]

WOW

[loveDudley]

I am proud of my dad, he was only 18, not only did he live though it he help clean up and rebuild Darwin! He stills remembers how terrifying it was!

He is still there ready for the next cyclone, he will be there to rebuild again he says!

LOVE YOU DAD!!!! I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!

[jaz33uk]

I lived in Melbourne at the time this happened. A 10 year old who couldn't believe what he was seeing. We moved to the UK in the middle of 1975 but before we did I used my pocket money to buy the charity song played in this clip and still have it in my collection.

[Raspberries5]

the pic at 1:25 is cyclone vance and the clip at 1:40 is from the gap storm 2 years ago...

[PorcelainCatNZ]

@Raspberries5 You are absolutely right about the video clip - it is a clip from The Gap storm. I never set out to imply to people that the clip was of Cyclone Tracy but rather to show the power of such an event. Cyclone Tracy was much larger and far more powerful but I thought it helped to illustrate the voracity of Australian storms. However I wasn't aware that the pic at 1:25 was of Cyclone Vance but thank you for pointing it out. Apologies to anyone for a misunderstanding.

[Raspberries5]

@PorcelainCatNZ no worries, not like id give a thumbs down or whatever because of that

[PerculaPlushPet]

Australians know how Americans feel -

Katrina

[PerculaPlushPet]

@PerculaPlushPet ... and pearl harbour

[beautifulemo101]

ever since i found out about (8 years old) cyclone tracy ive always wanted to study it and now im 14 and ive been so touched ! the people that died in cyclone tracy is really sad and i find the people that are still alive today from that horrible day and can still listen and watch back are really strong people ! im touched by you all and wish you the best of luck ! i still run into people in darwin that have been in cylone tracy and love hearing how they lived through it thankyou (: <3

[wiggin22x]

@beautifulemo101 your an awsome 14 year old :)

[beautifulemo101]

@wiggin22x Hahahaha, Why Thankyou (:

[welbyskinner]

You can't keep a good town down

[powdamunk]

mother natures crunch, doesn't seem fair.

[indeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed]

35 years, but it's still like yesterday

[vazkilzan]

lol that guy at 5:57 looks like david gilmour

[mistyeden]

i have tears as im watching this video , i was only 6 years old , but so totally remember it

[trowuttatwo]

I too was only 6 years old and I am crying watching this

[brettturvey]

I was in cyclone tracey. This video tells it all

[daretodreamdaretofly]

Have u guys heard this song by bucko and champs its really good

[IrishHeart091]

Thanx for the posting Mate, I've heard another version of the song but never seen pictures of the devestation. Thank You!

[Telstar62a]

Very moving...and a well-done video; thanks for posting it.

[heartofindigo]

Awesome :)

[alevenmusic]

Awesome. God bless everybody affected by that disaster. I don't think anybody can ever really imagine something like that until they've lived through it. Hopefully, nothing like this will ever happen again.