Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Climatology | Impacts | Extremes| TCs affecting WA towns | Forecast Accuracy
Frequently Asked Questions | Annual summaries

Definitions | Characteristics and Formation | Climatology | Extremes | Forecasting | More Information

Extremes

6. Which cyclones have caused the most deaths?

There have been several historical Western Australian cyclones causing a significant loss of lives at sea. In March 1912 over 150 lives were claimed at sea. The coastal passenger vessel the Koombana was lost after setting out from Port Hedland to Broome with about 140 people on board. At least another 15 people died as other vessels went down in the same event. Click here for more information on this event.

There have also been two events in WA when about 140 men perished in pearling fleet disasters:
- 22 April 1887 off Ninety Mile Beach.
- 26-27 March 1935 near the Lacepede Islands off Broome.

The greatest number of deaths from an Australian cyclone was in 1899 at Bathurst Bay in Queensland when a storm surge was responsible for the deaths of more than 300 people. The death toll in the infamous Bangladesh Cyclone of 1970 has had several estimates, some wildly speculative, but it seems certain that at least 300,000 people died from the associated storm tide in the low-lying deltas. In the 1991 Bangladesh cyclone more than 140,000 people were drowned primarily because of the storm surge.