Devastating Weather Events That Brought Australia To Its Knees

Wild weather

Australia is a country of extremes, from its vastly diverse landscapes to its far-ranging and often destructive weather patterns. As the nation grapples with the on-going effects of climate change on its environment, we take a look at some of the most catastrophic weather events in its history.

1893: Brisbane flood, Queensland

Several days of intense rainfall in early February 1893 saw a swollen Brisbane River burst its banks and inundate the main business district of Brisbane, along with many of its low-lying suburbs. The Victoria Bridge and the Indooroopilly Railway Bridge were swept away and many businesses in Queen Street suffered major damage from the floodwaters. The total rainfall was around 20 inches (500mm) and the Brisbane River rose 24 feet (7m) above the mean spring tide.

1895-1902: The Federation Drought, countrywide

As the world’s driest inhabited continent, Australia’s history is peppered with dry spells. One of the country’s worst and most prolonged droughts has become known as the Federation Drought, named after the Federation Bill which was accepted in 1901 and saw Australia become a nation. It was in fact a series of debilitating droughts, which took place from 1895–1903, and caused vast numbers of livestock deaths. Enormous dust storms such as this in outback town Broken Hill were common.

1895-1902: The Federation Drought, countrywide

According to the National Museum Australia, Australia had 106 million sheep in 1892. By 1903 this had almost halved to 54 million. The nation lost more than 40% of its cattle over the same period. Also during that time, one of the most catastrophic heatwaves occurred between 1895 and 1896 across most of the country. It was responsible for the death of 435 people.

1897: Darwin cyclone, Northern Territory

The Northern Territory settlement of Palmerston (it was renamed Darwin in 1911) was all but destroyed by a cyclone that blew in from the Timor Sea and struck in the early hours of 7 January. Australia’s Top End has a tropical climate with a wet and dry season – the wet season (late November to early April) is when the area sees increased cyclone activity. In this violent cyclone, which uprooted trees and telegraph poles, 28 people died. Eighteen pearling luggers, the government steam launch and three sampans were also wrecked.

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1899: Cyclone Mahina, Queensland

Australia's deadliest storm to date struck Bathurst Bay in far north Queensland in 1899. With more than 300 people killed, it has the highest death toll from a natural disaster in Australia's history. The majority of fatalities were divers and seamen from South East Asia, the Torres Strait and Pacific islands who worked on the Thursday Island pearling fleet. The fleet was anchored on Bathurst Bay when the cyclone struck and, with no radios or system of advance warning, there was no hope of help for the workers.

1899: Cyclone Mahina, Queensland

According to the National Museum Australia, there were about 1,000 men, women and children on board around eight schooners when Mahina struck. More than one hundred luggers were anchored in the Princess Charlotte Bay and Bathurst Bay area to offload oyster shells. More than half of the fleet was destroyed during the night, and at least 307 people were killed. As well as huge seas, a destructive surge of water was swept inland.

 

1912: Cyclone, Port Hedland, Western Australia

The Top End’s notorious weather systems caused the country’s worst 20th-century maritime disaster on March 20, 1912 when an Edwardian passenger and cargo steamship disappeared during a tropical cyclone. SS Koombana, which operated between Fremantle near Perth and ports in the north-western part of Western Australia, had departed Port Hedland when she disappeared somewhere just north in wild weather. Aside from a door belonging to the ship, which was found on an island off Port Hedland a month later, she was never to be seen again taking with her 150 passengers and crew. Several other vessels also sank, claiming 15 lives. 

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1918: The Mackay cyclone, Queensland

One of the most destructive storms to slam into the Queensland coast happened in January 1918. The Category 4 storm killed 30 people and destroyed most of the town of Mackay with its destructive winds. The wind worked up a 12-foot (4m) tidal surge that swept through the town. With all roads in and out damaged and railway lines down, Mackay was completely cut off – it took five days for the rest of the country to find out what had happened.

1918: The Mackay cyclone, Queensland

As buildings at the time were mostly timber and had not been built to withstand such extreme storms, the devastation was extensive. Of the 1,400 houses in Mackay at the time, 1,300 were destroyed or significantly damaged. It's incredible to think now that Mackay residents were only given several hours' warning of the impending cyclone, when a notice went up on the door of the post office. Further deaths from flooding were reported in Rockhampton and Yeppoon to the south.

1918: Unnamed cyclone, Queensland

Just two months later, it was the turn of Innisfail in north Queensland and surrounding towns to bear the brunt of an even stronger cyclone. The Category 5 storm bowled in from the coast on 10 March and decimated communities – it was reported that only 12 buildings remained standing in Innisfail. Nearby Mission Beach, Bingil Bay and the town of Babinda were wiped out by powerful storm surges and a monstrous tidal wave reported. It’s thought at least 100 people perished, many of them from Indigenous communities. 

1935: Unnamed cyclone, Broome, Western Australia

Another vulnerable pearling fleet was destroyed in the Lacepede Islands, to the north of Broome, when a cyclone in March 1935 whipped up huge swells at sea that sank all 36 luggers. The tragedy killed 141 people – mostly Japanese pearlers. Pearling camps were also demolished and other properties severely damaged.

1967: Black Tuesday bushfires, Tasmania

Extreme weather conditions combined to create one of Tasmania’s worst natural disasters on 7 February 1967 when 110 fires burned and created a firestorm. A combination of high temperatures, low humidity and extremely strong north-westerly winds fuelled the disaster, which effectively saw the entire southeast of the state ablaze. The inferno killed 62 people and destroyed 1,300 homes. Thick smoke hung in the air of capital Hobart (pictured) with the blaze coming perilously close to its central business district.

1974: Cyclone Tracy, Darwin, Northern Territory

Christmas brought devastation to the Northern Territory’s small capital once again in 1974 when a cyclone bowled into the city in the early hours of 25 December – and flattened 70% of it. The tropical storm is one of the most severe in Australia’s history and changed the face of Darwin forever. Tracy destroyed most of its buildings, which had not long been rebuilt after much of the city was destroyed during the Second World War. Seventy-one people died and 25,000 of Darwin's 43,000 population were left homeless. 

1974: Cyclone Tracy, Darwin, Northern Territory

Now classified as a Category 4 cyclone, Tracy was small but intense at landfall with its radius being only about 30 miles (50km) wide. However, it’s thought the destructive winds could have reached speeds of up to 185 miles per hour (300 km/h). The city was evacuated, and within three weeks three-quarters of its population had left. Darwin was rebuilt over the next few years and building standards changed to prevent future devastation. There's a poignant display of the cyclone’s impact at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. 

1983: Melbourne Dust storm, Victoria

Drought conditions caused a huge dust storm to envelop much of Victoria on 8 February, including its capital Melbourne. The red haze caused the city to come to a halt as visibility went down to 328 feet (100m). A thousand tons of red soil, sand and dust were blown east from central Victoria and South Australia as a strong, but dry, cold front began crossing Victoria, which was preceded by a hot and gusty northerly wind.

1983: Ash Wednesday bushfires, Victoria and South Australia

The strange and apocalyptic storm was a precursor to the 1983 bushfire disaster a week later, which killed 75 people in South Australia and Victoria. It also destroyed thousands of homes and buildings. Drought conditions, combined with a heatwave, put the states’ eucalypt forests at a very high fire risk. On 16 February 1983 – coinciding with the Christian holiday Ash Wednesday – over 180 fires blazed across both Victoria and South Australia. Sudden wind changes rapidly altered the size and direction of the fire front, merging fires and making them incredibly hard to control.

1998: The 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, Tasmania

Australia's annual Boxing Day yacht race turned from sunny send off to tragedy in 1998 when wild weather in the Bass Strait whipped up high seas that battered the defenseless boats and caused six deaths. The gale force winds and huge waves, part of a severe east coast low, saw five yachts lost and 55 sailors winched to safety. It was the most disastrous in the race's history and the largest peacetime search and rescue effort ever seen in Australia.

1999: The 1999 Sydney hailstorm, New South Wales

A freakish hailstorm hit Sydney without warning late in the afternoon of 14 April 1991. With hailstones the size of cricket balls pelting buildings at 125 miles per hour (200 km/h), it became the costliest natural disaster in Australian insurance history at AU$1.7 billion, causing extensive damage to buildings, cars and aircraft. A total of 85 Sydney suburbs reported hail damage from the storm, which lasted an incredible five-and-a-half hours, with some of the worst hit located in the city's affluent eastern suburbs.

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2001-2009: The Millennium Drought, South Australia and Victoria

For most of the 2000s, a drought devastated communities, industries and environments in southern Australia, many of which relied on the River Murray in southeast Australia. A combination of increasing temperatures, low rainfall and the lowest inflows into the river in recorded history meant that the river's flow into southern Australia almost ceased, having a devastating impact as water supplies were threatened. Queensland also suffered from extreme dry conditions. La Niña weather conditions in 2010 brought the drought rapidly to a close, causing floods.

2009: Heatwave, southeast Australia

The southeastern parts of Australia sizzled in the summer of 2009 when a heatwave saw temperatures reach 113°F for nine consecutive days in January and February. The most extreme conditions occurred in northern and eastern Tasmania, most of Victoria and border areas of New South Wales, and southern South Australia. The extreme heat was responsible for hundreds of deaths in the states and triggered devastating bushfires in Victoria.

2009: Black Saturday bushfires, Victoria

With the sweltering record-breaking temperatures came ferocious bushfires which killed 173 people, destroyed 2,000 homes and displaced more than 7,500. The fires, which swept across Victoria on 7 February, were, at the time, the deadliest fires in Australia's post-colonisation history. The commuter town of Kinglake (pictured), just 40 miles (60km) from Melbourne, was totally destroyed in the blaze and suffered the most fatalities at 120.

2009: Black Saturday bushfires, Victoria

Millions of wild and undomesticated animals also perished in the flames. The fires were so deadly because of the combination of record temperatures and unusually strong northwesterly winds, which gusted in excess of 60 mph (100km/h) and fanned the flames. It didn’t take much for the region’s severely parched landscape to ignite due to the long-running drought. 

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2009: Sydney dust storm, New South Wales

Mars-like scenes confronted Sydneysiders on 23 September 2009 when a colossal dust cloud engulfed the city and surrounding areas. Severe winds in the west of the state blew in millions of tons of red dust from the continent's drought-ravaged interior and dumped it on the east coast. The cloud caused major disruptions to the city’s transport as visibility was reduced to less than 330 feet (100m) and people were advised to stay inside due to the bad air quality. Flights out of Queensland capital Brisbane were also canceled in what was the worst dust storm to hit Australia in 70 years. 
 

2010-2011: Floods, Queensland

Three-quarters of Queensland was declared a disaster zone in the summer of 2010-11 as a series of torrential downpours caused floods to inundate the state. The city of Toowoomba (pictured), Grantham and several towns in Queensland's Lockyer Valley were hit by flash flooding on 10 January as more than 160mm (6.3 in) of rain fell in 36 hours and saw raging torrents leave a trail of devastation that killed at least 33 people. The floods, the worst to hit in over 50 years, affected more than 200,000 people across an area as large as France and Germany combined. 

2010-2011: Floods, Queensland

As the swollen Brisbane River broke its banks, mass evacuations were underway in the state capital of Brisbane. Its landmark rugby and football venue, Suncorp Stadium, was submerged on 12 January and the Brisbane City Riverwalk was completely washed away as flood waters inundated parts of the city.

2011: Cyclone Yasi, Queensland

Queensland suffered another meteorological blow a month later in the form of Cyclone Yasi, one of the most powerful tropical storms north Queensland has seen since records began. The Category 5 cyclone, which reached up to 300 miles (482km) wide, cyclone crossed the coast at Mission Beach, a small resort south of Cairns in early February. The 180 mile per hour (290km/h) winds plus waves that reached more than 38 feet (11.5m) pummeled the idyllic beach town, Tully and Innisfail and surrounds – felling trees, cutting power lines, tearing off roofs and shredding crops. 

2011: Cyclone Yasi, Queensland

Although Yasi was one of the most powerful cyclones to have affected Queenslanders since records commenced, only one cyclone-related death was recorded due to advance warnings and evacuations. However, the cyclone was incredibly costly with damages reaching AU$800 million. Among the casualties were dozens of expensive boats swept ashore from marinas, hotels and the region’s agricultural production, with banana and sugar cane crops particularly badly hit. 

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2015-2016: El Niño, Queensland

In 2015 Pacific Ocean temperatures increased to 3.6°F above average, causing the most severe El Niño since the late 1990s. The phenomenon led to the worst coral bleaching on record in 2016. It’s estimated that 22% of the coral along Queensland's Great Barrier Reef was lost due to bleaching, which is caused by unusually warm water. The worst-hit part was the reef’s northern and most pristine section.

2017: Cyclone Debbie, Queensland

Queensland was put on red alert as Cyclone Debbie loomed off the country’s northeast coast. It landed near the resort town of Airlie Beach on 28 March 2017, battering it with violent winds and rain. The Category 4 storm cut power lines and sank boats – it also hit the Whitsunday Islands, including main tourist hub Hamilton Island, ripping roofs off in its path. At its peak, gusts were recorded at 263km/h (163mph). No deaths occurred during the storm but widespread flooding followed as the topical low moved south, causing fatalities. 

2019: Heatwave, countrywide

Australia experienced its hottest day on record in December 2019 with an average maximum across the country of 107.4°F. The Bureau of Meteorology data showed the scorching temperatures were 35°F higher than the previous record set in January 2013 and warned of an unprecedented season of bushfire risk. "The high fire dangers were exacerbated by widespread and severe rainfall deficiencies and hydrological drought, with continued low rainfall during spring and much above average temperatures," it said. 

2019-2020: Bushfires, various

2019 was also the driest year on record, which when combined with extreme temperatures, fuelled a series of massive bushfires across Australia from September 2019 and into 2020. Over 30 people lost their lives during the catastrophic fires – including four firefighters – and an estimated one billion animals perished. It's thought around 10 million hectares (100,000sq km or 15.6 million acres) of bush, forest and parks across Australia were burned.

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2019-2020: Bushfires, various

The 2019-20 bushfire season was unprecedented in scale and intensity. As well as bushland, thousands of homes were destroyed as many of the ferocious fires merged into "mega-fires" and created their own lightning storms. Brisk winds fanned the flames and pushed the smoke across Australia’s major cities, causing residents to suffer from the effects of smoke pollution. Experts say that climate change has made Australia's bushfires more ferocious and longer due to hotter, drier conditions.

2022: Flooding, eastern Australia

2022 was a year of La Niña, which usually brings wet weather and heavier rain, but climate change is exacerbating its impact. In the first week of March, three separate weather systems hit southern Queensland and most of New South Wales, bringing more than one year's worth of flooding in a single week. By the end of the month, yet another rainstorm came. Thousands were forced to evacuate their homes, 23 people died and thousands of homes and businesses were flooded. This image shows a football field in Brisbane, torn up by the floods.

2022: Flooding, eastern Australia

Then, in October 2022, eastern Australia suffered more heavy rain, with rivers overflowing all the way from Queensland to Victoria. One of the hardest-hit regions was the Murray-Darling basin, Australia's largest river system: the month was its wettest October on record, with rainfall totals of 150mm (5.9 inches) being four times the average. The economic cost was huge, estimated around AU$791 million: including 120,000 hectares (460 square miles) of ready-to-harvest wheat that was washed away. 

2023: Flooding, Kimberley

January 2023 saw the Kimberley region in northwest Western Australia experience the worst flooding in the state’s history. The Fitzroy River peaked at 52 feet (15.8m), about 5.9 feet (1.8m) above the previous record. Rapidly rising waters cut off isolated towns, wreaked havoc on farms and killed livestock. Helicopters were used to pluck residents from the tiny towns, while others stranded in more remote communities claimed they were forced to text authorities to request food and supplies.

Discover more of 2023's most shocking weather events