The 1970–75 Southern Hemisphere tropical cyclone seasons ran year-round from July 1 to June 30 during each year between 1970 and 1975. Tropical cyclone activity in the Southern Hemisphere reaches its peak from mid-February to early March.
The following storms occurred in the Australian Region during the 1970–71 tropical cyclone season:[1]
Tropical Cyclone Althea was a Category 4 cyclone when it hit the coast some 50 km north of Magnetic Island and Townsville in North Queensland on December 24, 1971.[2] Althea produced peak gust wind speeds between 123 and 145 miles per hour (197 and 233 km/h). Three people died and property damage was estimated at AU$115 million loss (1990 value). On Magnetic Island 90% of the houses were damaged or destroyed.[3] In Townsville houses were lifted from their foundations and most trees stripped of foliage. Althea was also notable at the time, as it had struck a major city.
Although there was a dangerous storm surge associated with TC Althea (between 2.8 and 3.6 metres) little flooding occurred because the cyclone made landfall on a low tide. However, the combination of storm surge and wave action demolished The Strand sea wall and houses in low-lying areas were inundated with up to 0.6 metres of water.
As well as Althea, the following storms occurred in the Australian Region during the 1971–72 tropical cyclone season:[4]
Tropical cyclone Bebe was a very early-season storm that occurred from 19 to 25 October 1972 near Fiji.[4]
At Wickham on 21 January 1973 more than 30 houses were partly unroofed and some houses received major damage. There was no damage to buildings in Dampier, Roebourne or Karratha as the cyclone crossed the coast well to the east. Kerry passed close to a number of oil-drilling rigs causing damage and lost productivity time that cost over one million dollars. Maximum recorded gust was 140 km/h at Cape Lambert.[5]
On 27 April, a tropical cyclone formed near Flores. It moved near the island and dissipated two days later.
The cyclone was a major disaster. It sank a ship, with all 21 hands lost, as well as killing around 1500 fishers at sea. On the island of Flores, 53 were killed.[6]
Cyclone Lottie struck Fiji's Southern Lau Group on December 10. High seas caused the ship Uluilakeba to capsize killing more than 85 people. [1] [2]
| Wettest tropical cyclones in Australia |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Precipitation | Storm | Location | ||
| Rank | (mm) | (in) | ||
| 1 | 1947 | 76.65 | Peter 1979 | Mt. Bellenden Ker[7] |
| 2 | 1870 | 73.62 | Rona-Frank 1999 | Mt. Bellenden Ker[7] |
| 3 | 1411 | 55.55 | Mackay Cyclone 1918 | Mackay |
| 4 | 1318 | 51.89 | Wanda 1974 | Mt. Glorious[8] |
| 5 | 927 | 36.50 | April 1898 cyclone | Whim Creek[9] |
| 6 | 907 | 35.71 | Feb. 1893 cyclone | Crohamhurst[8] |
| 7 | 900 | 35.43 | Feb 1954 cyclone | Springbrook[8] |
| 8 | 759 | 29.88 | Grace 2004 | Topaz[10] |
| 9 | 747 | 29.40 | Neville 1992 | Garden Point[11] |
| 10 | 732 | 28.81 | Carlos 2011 | Darwin[12] |
This cyclone existed from 24 January to 27 January 1974 and led to extensive flooding over southeast Queensland. Although this tropical cyclone was relatively weak, it dropped enormous quantities of rain on south-eastern Queensland and north-eastern New South Wales over the Australia Day (26–27 January) weekend, resulting in some of the worst flooding seen in a century. The Queensland state capital, Brisbane, fared particularly badly, with fourteen lives lost and parts of the city submerged under 2 metres of the Brisbane River. (See 1974 Brisbane flood.) In northern New South Wales, a further two fatalities were reported. The cyclone's final toll: 16 dead, over 300 injured; 56 homes destroyed, a further 1,600 submerged; 8000 people left homeless.[13]
Cyclone Zoe was named and detected on 9 March 1974 when it was northeast of Brisbane. In the following days it moved steadily southward[14] and interacted with an already-exiting trough in the easterlies to produce sustained and very heavy rainfall all along the coast from Brisbane south almost to Sydney. In the four days between 10–13 March, Brisbane received 419.4 millimetres (16.51 in)[15] and some places in the Northern Rivers region of New South Walkes received as much as 700 millimetres (28 in).[16] With catchments already saturated by heavy January rains, record flooding occurred on the Richmond River,[17][18] which reached a height of 12.17 metres.
Cyclone Selma was predicted to impact Darwin, but it dissipated before it impacted land.
135 mph Cyclone Tracy hit the Australian city of Darwin on the night of December 24 1974, causing 71 deaths and extreme damage.
Wind gusts of 259 km/h at Mardie and 246 km/h at Onslow, Western Australia were measured during cyclone Trixie in 19 February 1975. The Onslow anemometer was destroyed after measuring the gust of 246 km/h during this storm. The gust at Mardie is the second highest recorded on the Australian mainland.[19]
Tropical cyclone Beverley affected Exmouth, Western Australia and the west coast in March 1975.
On 20 March 1975 winds were recorded to 128 km/h at Fremantle, Western Australia and 109 km/h in neighbouring Perth. There was some damage including St George's Cathedral and Perry Lakes Stadium. At Rockingham a 7m-yacht sank, a 6m cabin cruiser was destroyed and many other craft were damaged.[20]
