Savage east coast low wreaked same havoc as deadly ‘year of the storm’ in 1974
THE dramatic weather Sydney copped at the weekend was reminiscent of the fierce storms that wreaked havoc 42 years ago. .
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THE wild weather that lashed Sydney at the weekend was the result of abnormally high tides and an east coast low, a deadly combination which brings wind, rain and crashing seas.
Similar conditions also hit Sydney and parts of the NSW coast 42 years ago, causing havoc as far north as Newcastle. The dramatic images from this weekend’s deluge that saw giant waves gouging out the shoreline and parts of Sydney transformed into something akin to the canals of Venice are startlingly similar to those from 1974.
That year was the year of the storm. There were major floods in Queensland in January and later in December on Christmas Eve, Darwin was nearly wiped off the map by Cyclone Tracy. Sydney may not have copped anything as severe but it was bad enough.
In February an electrical storm whipped through the city tearing roofs of houses and causing widespread power failures and transport chaos, including shutting down Kingsford Smith Airport for half an hour.
That was mild compared to the deluge that came down in Sydney’s west in April. About 250mm of rain was dumped on the city in a matter of only four hours. One of the most famous images from that time shows a car stranded at a petrol station in water up to its headlights. Cars were swept away and a young boy was lost in the floodwaters.
But worse was to come. At the beginning of May strong winds brought grief to yachts and ships on the harbour and out at sea. As the month wore on, an east coast low formed, a kind of cyclone that usually whips up in the changeover period of the Southern Oscillation from El Niño to La Nina. These lows bring plenty of wind and rain but when severe lows occur during high tides it can mean some savage coastal hammering, stripping sand from beaches, destroying jetties and sometimes dragging homes into the sea.
This was a once-in-a-century storm that hit the coast with full fury. For several days in late May the city and the central coast were lashed by winds sometimes reaching more than 100km/, along with lightning, heavy rains and waves reaching up to 8m.
The storm stripped several beaches inside and outside of the Harbour of their sand, exposing rocks below the surface. Houses along the shore lost fences, balconies, pools and some were knocked down by the waves. On the north shore a block of flats teetered precariously close to toppling over. Some surf clubhouses were inundated, some filled with sand. Manly’s swimming pool pier was torn apart and its wreckage littered the shore. At La Perouse the Paragon Restaurant, collapsed into the sea.
At North Avoca the shoreline crept 150m closer to houses, threatening them with destruction as they suddenly overlooked cliffs into the ocean. At a Terrigal caravan park, to avoid being a hit by a caravan being buffeted by the wind, a man tried to escape in a car. When the car wouldn’t start he fell asleep in vehicle along with a friend. The man was killed when the car was washed into the ocean. The friend escaped.
At Newcastle, where wind speeds reached up to 170km/h. The cyclone threw the Sygna, a Norwegian bulk carrier, on to Stockton beach. The captain did not hear gale warnings and was unable to run his ship out to sea before the worst of the winds struck.
Crowds turned out the next morning to watch attempts to rescue the crew, first by lifeboat but later by helicopter.
Attempts by a Japanese salvage team to refloat the ship and tow it to a shipyard in Japan failed and the rusting hulk of the ship remains as memorial to the cyclone dubbed the “Sygna Storm”.
More storms in June were not as severe but just added to the damage already caused to the shoreline.
The Sygna Storm had an impact beyond the immediate damage. It caused a major rethink of storm responses and coastal management.
The state government created a special Coastal Engineering Branch within the then NSW Department of Public Works to look at strategies for predicting severe events and dealing with beach erosion.
Despite that, the east coast lows have continued to pound our coastline, stripping beaches, threatening homes and throwing ships around like toys.
Originally published as Savage east coast low wreaked same havoc as deadly ‘year of the storm’ in 1974
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