Early on Christmas morning 1974 the worst natural disaster ever to affect an Australian city destroyed most of Darwin. For six hours the terrifying winds of tropical cyclone Tracy ripped through the city, reaching up to 217 km an hour before wind gauges broke or were blown away. (Wind speeds were probably about 250km an hour.) Radio transmitters were damaged, so the town lost contact with the outside world for many hours. After the initial winds that had begun at 10pm on Christmas Eve, there was a lull at about 2.30am, and many people came outside, thinking it was all over. But within 30 minutes the wind had built up again and changed direction. People tried hiding under bathtubs or tables, but sometimes this was not enough when buildings collapsed around them. Fifty people died in the city – most killed by flying debris or crushed in their cars or homes. A further 112 people were seriously injured. The wind was so strong that roofs were torn from houses and went spinning through the air; buildings collapsed; and cars, trucks and even railway carriages were sent flying. A further 16 people were lost at sea because of the cyclone. More than two-thirds of the town’s population of 47,000 people were airlifted to emergency accommodation by the defence forces, partly to avoid disease that might be caused by such problems as food rotting in people’s damaged homes. So much of the city was damaged (about 90%) that most of the town had to be rebuilt during the following few years.