Tropical Cyclone Monica

Landfall | Summary
Posting Date: May 1, 2006, 1:00:00 PM

On Monday morning, April 24, Tropical Cyclone Monica made its second landfall near Maningrida in Northern Australia. Monica is one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the country. According to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC), the Category 5 cyclone brought sustained winds (1 min average) of 285 kph. Monica is currently moving toward the west southwest at 13 kph. Monica made its first landfall in Northern Queensland as a Category 1 cyclone according to JTWC, crossing the Cape York Peninsula on April 19 well away from most settled areas. The storm moved out across the Gulf of Carpentaria where it restrengthened and began a meandering course toward the Northern Territory. Residents within 10-15 kilometers of the coast near the point of landfall were urged to evacuate ahead of the storm, which brought heavy rains and a storm surge of more than 3 meters in some areas. As Monica continues to move inland, it is expected to track to the south of the territory’s capital city, Darwin, with a population of around 100,000. Preparations are underway there and large vessels are being cleared from the harbor. Several hundred recently unloaded new cars are rapidly being relocated from the wharf. Flights into the area have been cancelled, as have the city’s Anzac Day parade and festivities. A uranium mine 250 kilometers east of Darwin was shut down as a precautionary measure. In nearby Gove, an aluminum plant is facing interruption in production, as well as work stoppage on a major plant expansion project. The city of Darwin was hit hard on Christmas Eve of 1974 when Tropical Cyclone Tracy leveled the city and killed 65 people. Tropical Cyclone Monica was more intense at landfall than Tracy. Using the latest available information about the meteorological parameters of this storm, the AIR tropical cyclone team has run simulations representing a variety of assumptions about the storm’s actual intensity and radius of maximum winds at landfall. Five of these are now posted on the Scenarios page of this website, where clients can view wind speed and loss maps. Events sets are available for download from the Events Sets page. Note that all losses are denoted in Australian dollars (AUD).

Landfall | Downloads
Posting Date: May 1, 2006, 1:00:00 PM