Just hours ago, an unprecedented category 4 cyclone slammed straight into Darwin. Over 20,000 homes have been plunged into darkness. The airport is forced to a standstill, and emergency services are overwhelmed. History remembers the devastation of Tracy, but Fina is rewriting everything we thought we knew about Australia's cyclone threats. What triggered this explosive landfall, and why are experts warning that the danger is far from over?
Cyclone FINA's core is now tracking wests southwest just off the Darwin coastline. According to the Bureau of Meteorologies latest update, sustained winds remain above 205 kmh with gusts reported even higher along exposed suburbs. The official track map shows the system hugging the Timorr Sea, maintaining its intensity as it feeds on warm ocean water. Over 20,000 homes across Darwin and surrounding areas are without power, confirmed by the Northern Territory Power and Water Corporation as of Saturday evening.
Suburbs from Nightcliffe to Palmerston sit in darkness with power crews unable to reach major feeder lines due to downed trees and live wires blocking access roads. Darwin International Airport was closed to all flights shortly before the worst winds struck. The last scheduled departures raced the storm with the final aircraft leaving under emergency protocols.
Airport authorities secured hangers and grounded equipment as wind gusts exceeded safe operational limits. All commercial flights remain suspended until further notice and the terminal is locked down for safety. 1.33
Emergency services are stretched thin. The state emergency service command center reports a surge in calls for help. Collapsed roofs, blocked roads, and people trapped by flood waters. State emergency service teams have been forced to triage incidents, prioritizing life-threatening situations as conditions worsen. Relief crews are on standby, but many neighborhoods remain cut off by debris and rising water.
A senior state emergency service leader said they are dealing with a scale of impact not seen in decades. Our teams are working around the clock and we urge everyone to shelter in place and avoid all non-essential travel until the all clear is given.
This is the current reality on the ground. A city of more than 150,000 battered by a category cyclone facing widespread outages and operational paralysis as the storm's core grinds along the coast.
Cyclone Tracy hit Darwin on Christmas morning with winds so fierce that nearly three out of every four homes were destroyed. The city was left unrecognizable. Roofs were ripped off, entire neighborhoods were flattened, and more than 35,000 people were forced to evacuate. Tracy's devastation triggered a complete overhaul of building codes across Northern Australia. New standards demanded stronger tie downs, reinforced roofs, and cyclone shutters on windows. For decades, these rules shaped every new home and public building in Darwin. But the memory of Tracy never faded.
3.00
Each cyclone season, its shadow loomed over emergency planning and public warnings. In 2011, Cyclone Yasi struck Queensland as a category 5 giant. Its windfield stretched more than 500 km from the center, an area larger than some European countries. While Yassi spared Darwin, it reignited debate about whether the city's defenses could withstand another direct hit.
Engineers and local councils reviewed building approvals, especially in new waterfront developments and housing estates. Questions surfaced about construction shortcuts and whether all properties truly met the post Tracy code during Yasi. Some experts warned that even the toughest standards might not be enough if a storm matched the scale of Tracy or exceeded it.
Today, as FINA's winds lash Darwin, the city's resilience is being tested again. The lessons from Tracy and Yasi are written in every emergency manual and council regulation. But the true measure lies in how these buildings, roads, and shelters hold up under real world pressure.
For Darwin, history is not just a memory. It is the baseline for survival. With FINA's core holding just offshore, the most likely scenario is now playing out. The storm's main windfield, measured at a radius of maximum winds between 25 and 35 km, remains over the open Timor Sea. That means the city escapes the absolute worst. But intense conditions persist.
Gale force winds still sweep across coastal suburbs, toppling trees and sending debris through empty streets. Rainfall totals are climbing fast with forecasts calling for from 100 to 200 mm of additional rain over the next 24 hours. Low-lying streets and parks are already underwater and drainage systems are overwhelmed. Cleanup will be measured in weeks, not days.
4.50
For most residents, the immediate threat is from falling branches, flash flooding, and extended power outages, not catastrophic building loss. Emergency crews are focused on clearing blocked roads, and restoring essential services, but access remains limited.
While the offshore path spares Darwin from direct core impact, the practical challenges are far from over. Flooded roads, downed power lines, and battered neighborhoods will persist.
A sudden shift in FINA's path sends a ripple of uncertainty through coastal communities west of Darwin. At Wagit Beach, the memory of Cyclone Tracy, 1974, still runs deep. Hours before official transport could reach them, local elders organized their own evacuation. A convoy of four-wheel drives packed with families and supplies pulled out ahead of the worst winds. Guided by stories passed down from the last time the city faced a storm of this scale, teenagers ran door to door, warning neighbors who had not heard the latest updates, the decision to move early was not easy. Police and emergency crews urged patience, promising buses would come. But the community trusted their own instincts, shaped by decades of living with the sea. Their gamble paid off. The group crossed the causeway just before rising water made the route impassible.
6.05
In moments like these, official forecasts and ensemble models matter, but so does the hard won knowledge of those who have survived before. For many along the coast, contingency planning is not just a policy. It is a lifeline.
Storm surge is now the most dangerous variable. Model projections from the Bureau of Meteorology and ADCIRC show that if cyclone FINA's peak winds align with high tide, water levels could rise 2 to 2.4 m above the normal mark. That is enough to push the sea hundreds of meters inland across the lowest suburbs.
Nightcliffe, the waterfront precinct Bay View, and parts of Cajarina sit at the highest risk. In these zones, a surge of this magnitude would flood ground floors, submerge car parks, and cut off evacuation routes in less than an hour. Power substations and ferry terminals could go under, and even hospital access roads may become impassible if the water over tops 2 m.
This scenario is rare, but it is not theoretical. Cyclone Tracy's 1974 surge reached nearly 1.9 m, and FINA's modeled worst case now exceeds that. The timing is critical. The surge threat peaks if the cyclone's strongest winds arrive just as the tide crests around 8 p.m. tonight.
Residents in low-lying areas must monitor official surge alerts and be ready to move at a moment's notice. Maritime warnings are now in effect across the Timor Sea. At 4 p.m. ACST, the Bureau of Meteorology issued a shipping advisory after tide gauges recorded abnormal surges and long period swells radiating outward from FINA's core.
Cargo vessels and offshore rigs have been instructed to avoid exposed routes with Indonesian and T-OREST ports activating their own alert protocols. Marine safety bulletins highlight unpredictable wave sets and rapid changes in water level for crews at sea and port authorities along northern Australia. Every update matters. Conditions can shift in minutes. All maritime operators are urged to check the latest advisories and stay clear of danger zones. END OF TRANSCRIPT [ideo continues with info about Emergency Services for one more minute.]
Previous post ABC called Fina a Category 3 https://cityofangels25.blogspot.com/2025/11/fina-cat-3-cyclone-brushed-southern-tip.html
[Fina was a category 3 that might breeze by the Northern Territory Coast and then move on, when I posted these 2 posts about the typhoon yesterday.
This morning, I see that it was a category 4 Mega typhoon slamming the entire Australian West Coast all day their Sunday while I was sleeping Saturday night. I think we can start using the term Sudden Typhoon, or Sudden Hurricane, for storms intensifying fast in hot ocean waters as they become more common, just like cloudbursts and sudden floods are now common all over the planet, as Earth continues to heat out of control.]
