Cyclone Mahina - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Cyclone Mahina
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cyclone Mahina struck Bathurst Bay, Australia and the surrounding region with a devastating storm surge on 4 March 1899, killing more than 400 people, ranking high on the list
of disasters in Australia by death toll.[2][3]

Cyclone Mahina
Category 5 severe tropical cyclone (Aus scale)

Contents

Formed

Unknown

Dissipated

5 March 1899

Highest winds

10-minute sustained:

205 km/h (125 mph)

1 Intensity
2 Impact
3 Casualties

Lowest pressure

914 mbar (hPa); 26.99 inHg

(Lowest recorded pressure [1])

Fatalities

410 [?]

4 Aftermath

Areas affected

Far North Queensland, Australia

5 See also

Part of the Pre-1970 Southern Hemisphere tropical

6 References

cyclone seasons

7 External links

Intensity
Tropical cyclone Mahina hit on 4 March 1899. It ranks as a Category 5 cyclone, the most powerful of the tropical cyclone severity categories. In addition, Mahina perhaps ranks among the most intense cyclones ever observed in
the Southern Hemisphere and almost certainly as the most intense cyclone ever observed off the Eastern states of Australia in recorded history. Clement Lindley Wragge, Government Meteorologist for Queensland pioneered
naming of such storms and gave this storm its name, Mahina.
Such storms occur extremely rarely. Scientists identified two other category-4 or 5 super-cyclones in the first half of the 19th century from their effects on the Great Barrier Reef and the Gulf of Carpentaria. This same research
shows that such super-cyclones occur on average in the region only on average only once every two or three centuries.[4]
Contemporary reports vary considerably in the reported lowest barometric pressures. The pressure recorded on the schooner Olive reasonably consistently show her lowest pressure recorded: 29.60 inches of mercury (100.2 kPa)
to 29.10 inches of mercury (98.5 kPa) [5] or between 29.00 inches of mercury (98.2 kPa) and 29.10 inches of mercury (98.5 kPa).[6] In a further variant, "during the lull in the hurricane, the barometer on the Olive recorded" 29.70
inches of mercury (100.6 kPa) to 29.10 inches of mercury (98.5 kPa).[7]
Most sources record the schooner Crest of the Wave observation as 27 inches of mercury (91 kPa)[8][9][10] More modern reports of an 18-inch observation on a vessel in the eye of Mahina seemingly lack relationship to
contemporary records.[11]
One author [12] accepted the 29.1 inches of mercury (99 kPa) report from the Olive and the and 27 inches of mercury (91 kPa) report from the Crest of the Wave, seemingly unaware of the discrepant reports. He estimated the
track of the cyclone from the damage reports, placing it directly over the position of the Crest of the Wave. The Olive to the north missed the centre. The separation between these schooners explains the difference between their
respective pressure measurements. He calculates the centre pressure, standardised for temperature, as 914 hectopascals (13.26 psi).[12]
A study in 2014 found the lowest pressure perhaps around 880 hectopascals (12.8 psi), based upon modeling of meteorological variables needed to induce the potentially world-record-setting surge height of 13 metres (43 ft). This
surge closely matches new evidence on storm depositions and accounts actually reported to two other captains and in a letter to his parents a reading of 26 inches of mercury (880 hPa). This study considers the apparently
third-hand report of 27 inches of mercury (910 hPa) a not necessarily reliable measurement perhaps made five hours prior to passage of the eye.[13]
In comparison, tiny Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin in 1974 with a central pressure of 950 hectopascals (13.8 psi). Barometric pressure this low at mean sea level also likely caused cyclone Mahina to create such an intense,
phenomenal, claimed world-record storm surge not thereafter known.

Impact

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A pearling fleet, based at Thursday Island, Queensland, anchored in or near the bay before the storm. Within an hour, the storm drove much of the fleet ashore or onto the Great Barrier Reef; other vessels sunk at their
anchorages. People lost four schooners and the manned Channel Rock lightship. A further two schooners wrecked but later re-floated. The fleets lost 54 luggers, and a further 12 wrecked but re-floated. People later rescued more
than 30 survivors of the wrecked vessels from the shore; however, the storm killed more than 307 persons, mostly non-European immigrant crew members.[12][14] a depiction of the Crest of the Wave in the storm can be seen here
(http://lawas.co.nz/crest.htm).
A storm surge, reportedly 13 metres (43 ft), swept across Princess Charlotte Bay and then inland about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi), destroying anything left of the Bathurst Bay pearling fleet and the settlement.
An eyewitness, constable J. M. Kenny, reported that a 48-foot (15 m) storm surge swept over their camp at Barrow Point atop a 40-foot (12 m)-high ridge and reached 3 miles (4.8 km) inland, the largest storm surge ever recorded.
However, reviewing the evidence for this surge, some scientists [15] based on the 914-hectopascal (13.26 psi) central pressure, modeled a surge should only 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) to 3 metres (9.8 ft) in height. They also surveyed the
area, seeking wave-cut escarpments and deposits characteristic of storm events but found none higher than 5 metres (16 ft). Of the 48-foot (15 m) surge, they suggest an incorrectly cited ground level or an involvement of
freshwater (rain) flooding. A subsequent study considers this conclusion possibly premature and questions the barometer reading as considered unreliable and as not representative of the lowest pressure. This subsequent study
also examined new evidence of exceptionally high storm surge and inundation.[13]

Casualties
Some indigenous Australians tried to help shipwrecked men, but the back surge caught them and swept them into the sea; the death toll includes more than 100 Indigenous Australians.
The cyclone continued southwest over Cape York Peninsula, emerging over the Gulf of Carpentaria before doubling back and dissipating on 10 March.[16]

Aftermath
People found thousands of fish and some sharks and dolphins several kilometres (miles) inland, and the storm embedded rocks in trees. On Flinders Island (Queensland), people found dolphins on the 15.2-metre (50 ft) cliffs;
however, this finding need not indicate a surge of this height;[15] on this exposed site, wave run-up readily can produce these results even within the more modest calculated surge.
At Cape Melville, survivors erected a memorial stone to "The Pearlers" (http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/KI0x8VTW4u2986Qo-JibHg) lost to the cyclone, naming 11 Europeans but only citing "over 300 coloured men" for
the other seamen.[17] The Anglican church on Thursday Island, Queensland, also commemorates this disaster.

See also
List of disasters in Australia by death toll
List of tropical cyclones

References
1. ^ Nott, Jonathon; Hayne. Matthew, (12 June 2000). "How high was the storm surge from Tropical Cyclone Mahina?"
(http://www.ema.gov.au/www/emaweb/rwpattach.nsf
/VAP/%28084A3429FD57AC0744737F8EA134BACB%29~How_high_was_the_storm_surge_from_Tropical_Cyclo
ne_Mahina.pdf/$file/How_high_was_the_storm_surge_from_Tropical_Cyclone_Mahina.pdf). Australian Journal of
Emergency Management (Emergency Management Australia) (Autumn 2000): 1113.
2. ^ "Natural Disasters" (http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/naturaldisasters/). Australia's cultural portal.
Retrieved 2009-02-11.
3. ^ "Australia's worst natural disasters" (http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1008174/Australia%27s-worst-naturaldisasters). SBS World News Australia. Retrieved 2009-02-11.
4. ^ *Michael Allaby, Richard Garratt, Hurricanes, page 98, Infobase Publishing, 2003 ISBN 0816047952.
5. ^ The Late Hurricane. The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA), p5, 14 March 1889. Available online at http://trove.nla.gov.au

6. ^ The Late Hurricane The Brisbane Courier, p5, 14 March 1899. Available on line at http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del
/article/3689989
7. ^ The Hurricane in the North. Kalgoorlie Western Argus, p22, 16 March 1899. Available on line at
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/32457780
8. ^ The Queensland Hurricane. The Sydney Morning Herald, p5 13 March 1899. on line at http://trove.nla.gov.au
/ndp/del/article/14204581
9. ^ The Queensland Hurricane. South Australian Register, p6, 14 March 1899. Available on line at
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/54427620
10. ^ Hurricane in the North. The Brisbane Courier, p8, 18 March 1899. Available on line at http://trove.nla.gov.au
/ndp/del/article/3690283
11. ^ The Cairns Post 20 November 2008, p17.

/ndp/del/article/29436768

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12. ^ a b c Whittingham, H. E. 1958, The Bathurst Bay Hurricane and associated storm surge. Australian Meteorological
Magazine 23: 14-36. Available on line at http://reg.bom.gov.au/amoj/docs/1958/whittingham2.pdf
13. ^ a b Nott, Jonathan; C. Green; I. Townsend; J. Callaghan (2014). "The World Record Storm Surge and the Most

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cyclone_Mahina&printable=yes

15. ^ a b Jonathan Nott and Matthew Hayne (2000). "How high was the storm surge from Tropical Cyclone Mahina?
North Queensland, 1899" (http://web.archive.org/web/20080625203948/http://www.ema.gov.au/agd/EMA
/rwpattach.nsf/viewasattachmentpersonal

Intense Southern Hemisphere Tropical Cyclone: New Evidence and Modeling". B. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 95 (5):

/(C86520E41F5EA5C8AAB6E66B851038D8)~How_high_was_the_storm_surge_from_Tropical_Cyclone_Mahina.p

75765. doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-12-00233.1 (https://dx.doi.org/10.1175%2FBAMS-D-12-00233.1).

df/$file/How_high_was_the_storm_surge_from_Tropical_Cyclone_Mahina.pdf) (PDF). Emergency Management

14. ^ Pixley, N S, Pearlers of North Australia: the romantic story of the diving fleets. Journal of the Royal Historical

Australia. Archived from the original (http://www.ema.gov.au/agd/EMA/rwpattach.nsf/viewasattachmentpersonal

Society of Queensland 9(3): 9-29. Available online at http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/eserv/UQ:209190

/(C86520E41F5EA5C8AAB6E66B851038D8)~How_high_was_the_storm_surge_from_Tropical_Cyclone_Mahina.p

/s00855804_1971_1972_9_3_9.pdf

df/$file/How_high_was_the_storm_surge_from_Tropical_Cyclone_Mahina.pdf) on 25 June 2008. Retrieved

2008-08-11.
16. ^ Bathurst Bay, Qld: Cyclone (incl Storm Surge) (http://www.ema.gov.au/ema/emadisasters.nsf
/c85916e930b93d50ca256d050020cb1f/40e758f025b7a858ca256d3300057cd3?OpenDocument) Emergency
Management Australia Disasters Database. Accessed 2008-12-29.
17. ^ Outridge Monument http://monumentaustralia.org.au/monument_display.php?id=90490&image=0

External links
Natural disasters in Australia (http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/naturaldisasters)
Australia's worst cyclone disasters - Queensland State Disaster Management Group (http://www.disaster.qld.gov.au/disasters/cyc_history.asp)
How high was the storm surge from Tropical Cyclone Mahina? by Jonathan Nott, James Cook University, & Matthew Hayne, Australian Geological Survey Organisation (http://www.ag.gov.au/www/emaweb/rwpattach.nsf
/VAP/(084A3429FD57AC0744737F8EA134BACB)~How_high_was_the_storm_surge_from_Tropical_Cyclone_Mahina.pdf/$file/How_high_was_the_storm_surge_from_Tropical_Cyclone_Mahina.pdf)
Video: The 1899 Pearling fleet disaster (http://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?vid=SLQ&docId=slq_digitool400021) - an account by Ian Townsend. Created as part of the Queensland
Stories project, State Library of Queensland, Australia. (4 minutes; Windows Media Player, RealPlayer)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cyclone_Mahina&oldid=647386121"
Categories: Pre-1980 Southern Hemisphere tropical cyclone seasons Cyclones in Australia 1899 meteorology 1899 natural disasters Category 5 Australian region cyclones Disasters in Queensland Far North Queensland

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