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Cyclone Wanda
Tropical Cyclone Wanda was a weak but very damaging tropical cyclone that caused severe flooding in Queensland after three weeks of continuous rain. The system made landfall as a Category 2 Tropical Cyclone over Fraser Island, before tracking west, and causing enormous levels of rain over Brisbane and surrounding areas. The Brisbane River, which runs through the heart of the city, broke its banks and flooded the surrounding areas. The cyclone also flooded surrounding cities: Ipswich, Beenleigh, and the Gold Coast.
In total, there were 16 fatalities, 300 people injured, 8,000 homes destroyed and an estimated A$980 million in damages. 13,000 properties were impacted.
Tropical Cyclone Wanda's origins can be traced back from 20 January 1974 as a low pressure area located to the southwest of Willis Island in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Vera which had moved steadily away from the region during the previous few days. The low gradually developed while moving on an east-southeast track away from the Queensland coast.
On 23 January, it veered onto a south-southwest track while gradually intensifying, and was named Wanda on 24 January. Wanda strengthened to a category 2 before crossing the coast just north of Double Island Point later the same day. Its central pressure at that time was 997 hPa. After crossing the coast, Wanda rapidly weakened to a tropical low, while moved towards the southwest before dissipating on January 25.
It had been an exceptionally wet spring, and by the end of October most of southern Queensland's river systems were nearing capacity. Cyclone Wanda pushed the systems to the limit, and drew the monsoonal trough southward, providing the additional rainfall to the Brisbane River, Bremer River and Stanley River catchments to produce widespread and severe flooding. In the early morning of 25 January heavy rain began to fall on Brisbane. During a 36-hour period 642 mm of rain fell on the city.
Large areas were inundated, with at least 6,700 homes flooded. Around 13,000 buildings were affected by flooding in some way. Buildings in the Brisbane central business district were particularly hard hit.
The 67,320 tonne Robert Miller broke its moorings at Kangaroo Point swinging out into the river held by two emergency anchors that the shipyard had placed as a precaution. When the first responders, consisting of the shipyard manager, Bill Dransfield, legendary rigger Fred Cotton and another shipyard employee, Billy Pinell managed to climb on board after hitching a ride on a small boat whose skipper braved the raging torrent, the men found that one anchor had been lost with clench pins sheared through and the remaining anchor only secured by the last clench pin which had failed but jammed the chain. After using steel scaffold tube and other construction materials to secure that anchor the attention then focussed on starting the ship’s main engine which had not yet been fully commissioned. With permission from the engine's maker the engine was able to generate some but not full propulsion and in combination with steering the ship around the worst debris damage was kept to a minimum.
Because the ship was 237 metres long and the river was about 255 metres wide, it was feared that the ship could form a dam across the river. This would have caused the river to rise by a further 3 metres, leading to even greater flooding in the suburbs. Two tugboats which managed to travel up the river arriving some hours after the initial rescue, were needed to control the 15 m high and 239 m long oil tanker. The Robert Miller was the largest ship ever built in Australia at the time.
Hub AI
Cyclone Wanda AI simulator
(@Cyclone Wanda_simulator)
Cyclone Wanda
Tropical Cyclone Wanda was a weak but very damaging tropical cyclone that caused severe flooding in Queensland after three weeks of continuous rain. The system made landfall as a Category 2 Tropical Cyclone over Fraser Island, before tracking west, and causing enormous levels of rain over Brisbane and surrounding areas. The Brisbane River, which runs through the heart of the city, broke its banks and flooded the surrounding areas. The cyclone also flooded surrounding cities: Ipswich, Beenleigh, and the Gold Coast.
In total, there were 16 fatalities, 300 people injured, 8,000 homes destroyed and an estimated A$980 million in damages. 13,000 properties were impacted.
Tropical Cyclone Wanda's origins can be traced back from 20 January 1974 as a low pressure area located to the southwest of Willis Island in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Vera which had moved steadily away from the region during the previous few days. The low gradually developed while moving on an east-southeast track away from the Queensland coast.
On 23 January, it veered onto a south-southwest track while gradually intensifying, and was named Wanda on 24 January. Wanda strengthened to a category 2 before crossing the coast just north of Double Island Point later the same day. Its central pressure at that time was 997 hPa. After crossing the coast, Wanda rapidly weakened to a tropical low, while moved towards the southwest before dissipating on January 25.
It had been an exceptionally wet spring, and by the end of October most of southern Queensland's river systems were nearing capacity. Cyclone Wanda pushed the systems to the limit, and drew the monsoonal trough southward, providing the additional rainfall to the Brisbane River, Bremer River and Stanley River catchments to produce widespread and severe flooding. In the early morning of 25 January heavy rain began to fall on Brisbane. During a 36-hour period 642 mm of rain fell on the city.
Large areas were inundated, with at least 6,700 homes flooded. Around 13,000 buildings were affected by flooding in some way. Buildings in the Brisbane central business district were particularly hard hit.
The 67,320 tonne Robert Miller broke its moorings at Kangaroo Point swinging out into the river held by two emergency anchors that the shipyard had placed as a precaution. When the first responders, consisting of the shipyard manager, Bill Dransfield, legendary rigger Fred Cotton and another shipyard employee, Billy Pinell managed to climb on board after hitching a ride on a small boat whose skipper braved the raging torrent, the men found that one anchor had been lost with clench pins sheared through and the remaining anchor only secured by the last clench pin which had failed but jammed the chain. After using steel scaffold tube and other construction materials to secure that anchor the attention then focussed on starting the ship’s main engine which had not yet been fully commissioned. With permission from the engine's maker the engine was able to generate some but not full propulsion and in combination with steering the ship around the worst debris damage was kept to a minimum.
Because the ship was 237 metres long and the river was about 255 metres wide, it was feared that the ship could form a dam across the river. This would have caused the river to rise by a further 3 metres, leading to even greater flooding in the suburbs. Two tugboats which managed to travel up the river arriving some hours after the initial rescue, were needed to control the 15 m high and 239 m long oil tanker. The Robert Miller was the largest ship ever built in Australia at the time.