It was Christmas Day, 1974 in Darwin, Australia, and Cyclone Tracy was about to make landfall.
A Category 3 cyclone, Tracy moved slowly onto land, about five miles per hour, causing great devastation due to its lingering pace. Strong winds, gusting up to 135 miles per hour, ravaged Darwin for at least five hours. The cyclone's small, tight eye passed directly over the city.
Cyclone Tracy began as a weak tropical low about 450 miles northeast of Darwin. Moving slowly to the southwest, it was classified as a cyclone late on December 21, at the start of the hurricane season in the Southern Hemisphere.
As Tracy came around Bathurst Island, northwest of the continent of Australia, satellite imagery showed a rapid intensification when the storm entered warm ocean water in the Beagle Gulf. The storm then changed course and headed in a beeline for Darwin, Australia. The city of Darwin was almost completely leveled and had to be rebuilt.
The storm took the lives of 50 residents of Darwin. Fifteen people were lost at sea.
