Other Cyclones in the Douglas Shire

1913 / A cyclone caused SS Innamincka to jump Alexander Reef and rest in the mouth of the Mowbray River.

1920

Feb 2 / A cyclone hit Mossman. Most buildings were reconstructed. St David’s church hall (Reading Room) and rectory were damaged. The Rector (Rev Taffs) had much of his furniture and many of his books damaged by the wet.

Feb 14 / Cairns Post Port Douglas Cyclone.

Rounding Billy Goat Hill Port Douglas, the effects of the cyclone were noticed by the Harbor Master's house being unroofed. This building left the blocks at 3 a.m. on the 3rd, the occupants going to the postmaster's place.

Then the Postmaster's residence became un-roofed, and the inmates took shelter at the Harbor Board sheds.

At 4 am the verandah of Bethel's Hotel lifted. Mrs. H. A. Nielsen's building, opposite, shifted: about 12 inches.

Miss Jensen's drapery emporium faced the opposite street.

A house occupied by Mrs. E. Blackburn was partly unroofed, and Callaghan Walsh's residence was nearly demolished.

The Bank of North Queensland had the roof blown away, and the verandahs.

The Masonic Hall had the walls left standing, and the Masonic Hall was blown through Mr Barney Allen's (manager of Jack & Newell) new residence and his furniture totally destroyed.

Jack & Newell's store was considerably damaged, the back part being blown away, and a large amount of damage done to stock.

The barometer at Port Douglas dropped to 962 hPa and the town was practically demolished

May 25 / Cairns Post The cyclone-damaged houses are being gradually reconstructed.

The Post Office Hotel in Mossman has been re-roofed, and the lost verandah replaced in front of Mr. Skillman's Store.

Mr. C. P. Robson's shop, which was flattened out by the late cyclone, is being rebuilt in the form of a residence, in which the owner can continue tailoring just as comfortably.

A Port Douglas carpenter. Mr. Henry Euhne, and his assistants, are busily engaged in the reconstruction of Mrs. Burfcin's house at the corner of Johnstone’s Road, and Front Street. The rehabilitation of this house will add greatly to the comfort of the inmates, amongst whom six children are numbered.

The residence of Messrs. Müntz Bros., on their farm adjacent to the Little Mossman, has been entirely rebuilt, it having been totally wrecked on the morning of the 3rd February last by the agency of the latest cyclonic visitation.

March / The severe cyclone that struck the Mowbray valley damaged most houses and many mango trees. Reynolds’ barracks near the foot of the Bump Track, built for the Kanaka workers was destroyed and never rebuilt

1925

26 Feb / A cyclone crossed the coast between Cooktown and Cairns. At Mossman several small buildings were unroofed though most damage was done to the sugar cane which was flattened.

1927

Feb / A cyclone caused the Daintree River to flood

1929

Feb 26 / A cyclone crossed the coast near Mossman, and a man drowned in the Mossman River on Feb 28 while attempting to cross the flooded river on horseback. Frank Natchwey, a farmer, was swept away and drowned. Although the water was two feet over the Foxton bridge, the man rode his horse into the water. The horse was caught in the current, and carried down stream. The bodies of both man and horse were subsequently recovered. (Mar 1 Toowoomba Chronicle)

1930

Jan 9 / A cyclone crossed the coast near Mossman with the bar down to 1000 hPa at Cairns. Most rivers were in flood disrupting traffic and mail.

14 Jan / Cairns Post : When the call for the ambulance came, Superintendent Andersen made every endeavour to get to Miallo, but was prevented by the river. An attempt to throw medicine to as " 'flu" patient was impracticable, as the expanse of the water was great. It was sad indeed, that death claimed one of the sufferers before the ambulance could reach the stricken one. The Mossman branch of the Q.A.T.B. have a worthy representative in Henry Andersen, who journeyed from the town to the river, making desperate attempts to cross, but unfortunately to no avail. A Chinaman who lived on a flat at the back of the mill viewed the rising waters with unconcern, and stayed there till the police moved him on. Shortly afterwards the water rose over the roof of his hut. As most of the cane is young there was little damage caused to the crops on the low-lying area.

1932

The wooden lighthouse in Port Douglas collapsed in a cyclone and was replaced with a concrete one. The old footing can still be seen beside the lighthouse.

1934

Mar 12 / A severe cyclone crossed the coast near Rocky Point.

Considerable damage done to the newly constructed road at Rocky Point and Pebbly Beach was caused by a tidal surge which reached three feet above the road, and a large landslide slipped onto the road at White Cliffs. The road was closed for two months while a new road was built around the rock slide and the road reconstructed at Pebbly Beach.

The top storey off the Exchange Hotel in Mossman was blown off. The whole building was replaced with timber from the Daintree Mill. The current building dates from 1935.

Cooya Beach was affected by storm surge and cane was torn out of the ground. The tidal wave was 16 ft high and engulfed 15 houses.

Newell Beach, then called Mossman Beach, suffered severe losses with very little relief available. Most people were unemployed because of the Depression.

Mar 14 / Cairns Post A message was received late on Sunday night from Willis Island that this district was in the track of the cyclone. In the morning at dawn, squally showers fell. The warning was issued by the police early in the morning. As the children gathered to attend school the wind was blowing south-east and freshened up at 9 a.m. Branches of trees started snapping. Bond's store and N.G. Buchanan's became unroofed.

Prior to 10 a.m. the wind increased intensely and veered from east to west with intensity, when the principal damage was caused. O'Brien's Exchange Hotel lost its balcony and the main building roof on the Mill-street frontage, also the lattice of the verandah fittings.

Jack and Newell's store lost the front verandah, and damage was done to the petrol bowsers, The drapery was badly damaged by rain waters.

Kildea's Blue Bird Café’s windows were smashed and the contents (confectionery) spoiled.

The entire roof of Neill's Post Office Cafe was lifted bodily and smashed into the side of the Post Office residence. It broke a window at the Morse instrument table in the main office, which was occupied by an operator a few minutes previously. Impelled by the strong wind, rain, beat into the window. The postal staff worked hard putting all the movable articles into a dry place. The telephone switchboard became wet, and most of the telephones were out of order.

The torrential rain was accompanied by wind and sheets of water, driven at 40 miles per hour, penetrated every crevice and where the iron was lifted, poured down on the furniture. At noon the wind abated a little and died down at 2 p.m. The townsfolk then ventured out and viewed the streets inundated with flood waters and strewn with galvanised iron, timber and' other wreckage.

STREAM UP. The Mossman River rose 14 feet over Foxton bridge and Cassowary Creek twelve feet. The outside areas have been affected, but owing to the floods having broken the telephone wires, little reliable news of the damage can be ascertained.

The cane has been flattened, and in some cases, uprooted. It is feared that the damage has caused a 25 per cent reduction in the crop.

REMOVED TO SAFETY. During the blow the police and the Shire Engineer (Mr. Ward) patrolled the town, removing persons from houses deemed to be dangerous to places of safety.

Mossman mill lost a large quantity of iron from the roof.

A feature of the wind was the lack of the customary half hour's lull which characterised all other cyclones in this district. The wind died down naturally, and certain alarmists had no ground fair stating that the wind would return that night, thereby causing needless anxiety.

A report from Mossman Beach states that a number of houses were damaged and that one house was blown out to sea. There were no injuries to any residents in that centre.

Port Douglas did not get badly damaged.

Carpenters are busy repairing the damaged buildings. The rain continues to fall. Over eleven inches fell in the last.24 hours. Road communications are cut off from the outside district.

Mar 12 / A cyclone hit Daintree. The butter factory manager’s house was turned into a hospital. The school was blown askew on its stumps but there was no loss of life. 8 inches of rain fell in 4 hours.

At Daintree the bar dropped to 978 hPa at 10 am and by 12.30 pm huge trees were snapped and all vegetation was defoliated, wiping out the rainforest. Three houses were totally demolished, one house had the veranda torn off, one house was torn in half and one half blown away, another house was lifted and turned upside down, and the sawmill was unroofed.

At Almason, Bailey’s Creek, the cyclone. luckily happened in the morning so no lives were lost but horses and cattle drowned. Much of the vegetation along the coast between cape Kimberley and Bailey’s creek was said to have been heavily damaged

Mar 17 / Sydney Morning Herald: TIDAL WAVE. RACES UP BEACH. Settlers' Homes Wrecked.

The cyclone did extensive damage to the banana growing settlement at Bailey's Creek, known as Almason, where there were five settlers. A tidal wave reduced the whole plantation to ruins. Mrs. W. W. Mason, who brought her son to Cairns by the Morinda, said there was not a banana stool standing on the plantation.

Mrs. Mason said she saw the tidal wave coming. The settlers rushed to their houses to obtain food and clothing, which were carried to higher ground. The water rose about 30 feet above the level of high tide and entered several dwellings from which the occupants had fled. Aborigines' huts were engulfed by the waters, but the blacks had also left.

Mrs. Mason said her husband had given the survivors from the lugger Mildred food and clothing. The men walked from Cape Tribulation, and were in a pitiable condition.

From Mossman Beach to North Daintree all standing timber was swept away. A settlement of over 15 houses on the south side of the Mossman River was completely destroyed. The cottages were built on the waterfront, and those that were strong enough to withstand the wind were smashed when the sea rose and giant waves beat into the homes of the unfortunate residents. Mossman police sent food to the destitute people.

The cyclone apparently gained intensity as it moved north. Cane crops on the main road to Daintree have been ruined. Cocoanut plantations near Rocky Point were wiped out, and buildings smashed. A man with a poultry farm lost all his fowls, and his home was wrecked by a wave 15 feet high, which raced up the beach. Stark ruin stretches through the Daintree-Bailey's Creek areas to the spot where the wind subsided.

Five pearling luggers were lost and 53 drowned off Cape Tribulation. (Bulletin No. 13 "Experiences in the Cyclone of 12th March 1934 by member Marshall Roberts)

Courier Mail 16 Mar by Pilot Capt. T H McDonald. In the worst maritime disaster for many years 53 lives have so far been reported lost, three being white people. The wrecked craft so far include the launch MOSSMAN with its crew of three white men. The. lugger MILDRED 10 drowned and 17 survivors. The lugger WAIPI with a Japanese skipper and 20 Torres Strait mission boys. A lugger, believed to be the WAIKATO The lugger RUDDERFISH. Three survivors of the Rudderfish state that 40 people were lost from these three vessels.

In Cape Tribulation, a cyclone left ‘only one banana upright – wedged in the fork of a tree’

Pilot Tom McDonald flew to Cape Trib photographing the cyclone damage. He dropped a bottle of whisky with a note tied around the bottle on South Beach. The note enquired if anyone was injured. If there was, write ‘yes’ on the sand of the beach and the MV Merinda, which was the mail and passenger boat plying between Cairns and Cooktown, would call at the Bay the following morning on its way back from Cooktown.

1956

Mar 6 / Cyclone Agnes unroofed part of the laundry block and a covered walkway of the Mossman Hospital. Pressure 961. It was the first named cyclone

Notable east to west moving tropical cyclones by code-name that have impacted along the wet tropical coast (Cooktown-Ingham) over the period 1858-2006 (after Callaghan, BOM).

Code Name Date Area Category Barometric Pressure (hPa)

Un-named 8 March 1878 Cairns not available

Un-named 16 March 1911 Port Douglas not available

Un-named 3 February 1920 Port Douglas 962

Un-named 9 February 1927 Cairns-Port Douglas 971

Un-named 12 March 1934 Cape Tribulation 978

Agnes 6 March 1956 Cairns-Townsville 961

Peter 2 January 1979

Winifred 1 February 1986 Cairns-Tully 958

Joy Dec 1990 Port Douglas-Mackay

Justin March 1997

Rona 11 February 1999 Daintree-Cape Tribulation 970

Steve Feb 2000 Cairns-Mareeba

Larry 20 March 2006 Innisfail 15 peak wind speed 290 kph

Yasi Feb 2011 Cardwell

Ita Apr 2014 Cape Flattery

The flagstaff on the hill at Island Point in Port Douglas was used to fly a flag to warn citizens that a cyclone was imminent. Damaged in the cyclones of 1911 and 1920 but repaired both times.

29 Dec 1978 - 3 Jan 1979 / Cyclone Peter was the wettest tropical cyclone on record in Australia. Peter developed on 29 December from a weak low pressure area over the Gulf of Carpentaria and moved south eastward and deepened’ Mossman River flooded at the low level Foxton crossing preventing everyone who lived on the north side from reaching town for almost a week. Several houses in Mossman Street were flooded and water entered Jack and Newell’s store.

1986

Feb / The Douglas Times began, delayed a week when Cyclone Winifred unroofed the Innisfail printery.

1999

Feb 11 / late evening Cyclone Rona crossed the Daintree coast with winds reaching up to 200km/hr. It damaged trees in the Thornton’s Beach and Cape Trib area

2011

Feb 3 / Cyclone Yasi destroyed Cardwell and affected Shannonvale and Whyanbeel.

290 kph winds, made landfall between Innisfail and Cardwell, damaging Tully, inc 150 homes destroyed.

The auditorium at Diane Cilento's Karnak Playhouse in the rainforest at Whyanbeel. was not rebuilt after being severely damaged

The charter Chinese junk Shaolin sunk.

2014

Apr 12 / Cyclone Ita category 4 crossed the coast at Cape Flattery and flooded some properties north of Mossman. A large tree fell in Macrossan Street

2019

Jan 26 / Record breaking rainfall. Australia Day celebrations postponed till Feb 23,

2019

Mar 21-26 / Heavy rain as an aftermath of Cyclone Trevor in the gulf. Shannonvale had 600mm from Tuesday till Saturday.