devastation

The cyclone on January 20–21, 1918 killed 30 people and destroyed 1,000 buildings when record low pressures brought category 4 winds to the town, causing a 3.6-meter tidal surge. While the tradition of naming cyclones had already begun, it is rumored the Bureau of Meteorology employee responsible for naming cyclones was on holiday at the time, leaving the 1918 storm nameless — and hence all the more infamous in the town's history. The cyclone hit on the evening of Sunday, January 20, but its deadliest element was the 3.6-meter 'tidal wave' that swept through the streets early the following morning, destroying almost everything in its path. Unsuspecting residents were forced to frantically grab onto floating debris as the water rose and their houses collapsed around them. 30 deaths and 1,000 buildings destroyed Most of the 30 victims were in Mackay, although deaths from flooding were reported as far away as Rockhampton and Yeppoon. Six members of a single family died when a floating segment of the wall they were using as a makeshift raft was swept away. Sarah Welch and her children Elizabeth, 13, Rose, nine, Mabel, six, Lucy, three, and three-month-old Charles all drowned while her husband Peter and sons Tom, 12, and Edwin, seven, survived. In 1918, houses and infrastructure were not yet built to be cyclone-proof. The brick Town Hall was one of the only structures left intact and in the days after the cyclone, it became a shelter for more than 60 homeless residents. The Sydney Street bridge connecting Mackay city to the north collapsed onto the steamer Brinawarr, with the ship's master and his son lucky to escape the overturned vessel. A local boat owner established a makeshift ferry service to allow travel between areas north and south of the river. After the cyclone, Mackay was completely cut off, with no news reaching the outside world for up to a week. Unlike today, where long-range models can warn of an incoming cyclone in advance, residents in 1918 had only several hours' notice that a cyclone was on its way, in the form of a notice affixed to the door of the post office. On the day of the cyclone, Mackay recorded more than 600mm of rainfall, more than 400mm the day after, and 300mm the following day, making the storm one of the wettest to hit Queensland. The official post office barometer malfunctioned when it reached its lowest possible reading of 944hPa, but a private observer's barometer recorded 932hPa in the early hours of January 21. Local newspaper the Daily Standard could not publish an edition for five days but on January 25 wrote that the cyclone "eclipses anything of the kind hitherto recorded in the meteorological history of the whole of Queensland, and possibly of Australia". "The appearance of the town had been transformed almost beyond recognition," the reporter wrote. "Mackay was passing through absolutely the most disastrous period in its history." Source: www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-20/centenary-1918-cyclone-100...

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My great-grandparents, John Burpee & Mary Mutty and their children lived in Bangor and their home was destroyed in this fire. Shortly afterwards, they left Bangor and took up residence in Lewiston. -- Seen in your News in the 1910s set. (?)

@Brenda Same here, relatives that were forced to move due to the fire.

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