Tropical cyclone Ada
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Tropical Cyclone Ada was a Category 4 cyclone that killed 14 people when it hit Queensland's Whitsunday Island Resorts and the adjacent Whitsunday Coast mainland on January 17, 1970.
Resorts and boats were destroyed or severely damaged at Hayman, Daydream and South Molle Islands, as well as the two resorts – Happy Bay and Palm Bay – on Long Island. About 80% of buildings in the mainland centres of Shute Harbour, Airlie Beach and Cannonvale were severely damaged. Some damage also occurred inland at Proserpine where, following 24 hours of heavy rain that accompanied the storm, the Proserpine River peaked at 11.16 metres: its highest recorded flood. Fourteen people died and property damage was estimated at AU$390 million (1970 values).
Like Tropical Cyclone Tracy that devastated Darwin on Christmas Eve 1974, Ada was small in diameter (estimated width 30 km) and damage from her path was limited to a comparatively small geographical area. The wind from Tropical Cyclone Ada was not felt in Bowen (60 km to the north) or Mackay (120 km to the south). However the heavy rains did cause flooding in the Pioneer River (Mackay) and the Don River (Bowen). It was as a result of complaints about lack of timely warning about the 1970 cyclone that the Bureau of Meteorology introduced the cyclone warning siren that now accompanies all media broadcasts and telecasts of cyclone warnings in Queensland.
