Remembering Cyclone Aivu

By Chelsea Ravizza

Thursday, April 4 saw the 35-year anniversary of cyclone Aivu crossing the North Queensland coast, leaving a devasting trail of destruction in Townsville, the Burdekin, and Bowen.

The 1989 severe, late-season tropical cyclone hit the Burdekin coastline, making landfall in Home Hill around 10:30am on April 4, causing over $150 million in damages, and tragically claiming three lives.

35 years on from the tragic event, the Burdekin still remembers the heartache and the destruction Aivu inflicted on the region. Areas of the Burdekin were left with no electricity, communications, or water for just over a week, and many homes were stripped of their walls, verandahs, roofs, and fences.

Jenny Powell was working her shift at the Home Hill Hospital the day cyclone Aivu made landfall, an event she remembers as extremely unpredictable, and nothing short of daunting.

“We didn’t know how the building would hold up, and we knew we couldn’t leave our patients in their rooms because of the large sliding windows,” explained Jenny.

“Most of them could not walk, so we were wheeling them around on beds and wheelchairs to Outpatient procedure rooms.”

Barely managing under the circumstances, Jenny recalls the worst moments came after the power was lost, and the generators failed.

“We had one of our elderly ladies say to me, ‘sister, I’ve got a hurricane lamp down at home if you want to get it,’ and I was a bit stressed, but I said, ‘you think I’m walking outside in this weather just to get a hurricane lamp?!’”

Locals described witnessing trees falling as if they were matchsticks, and roofs flying like sheets of paper as the sky filled with debris moving at the speed of light, and as the eye finally arrived, the Home Hill Hospital was immediately inundated with casualties.

“Our gutters were hanging off the courtyard buildings, and we were so worried they’d become flying missiles that we hadn’t even been thinking about all the casualties about to come in,” recalls Jenny.

“One man had even fallen off a roof, and he had to be transported to Townsville, it was quite a time.”

As well as the devastation, locals reminisce on the community rallying together, with the aid of the Australian Army forces and the SES to lift spirts through neighborhood barbeques and candle lit card games amidst the cleanup.

Cyclone Aivu still stands as one of the region’s largest, and most devastating natural disasters, with locals reminiscing on the unforgettable loss and heartache each anniversary. Even 35 years on from the tragedy, many locals look back on the event and say they cannot believe it was that long ago.

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