This region has weathered the good years and the bad

Weather events that are out of the ordinary give us much to talk about.

Our average yearly rainfall on the Sunshine Coast is 1400mm.

Records show that there can be great variance in different years.

Two of Queensland’s wettest years were 1893 and 1898.

In 1893, the year’s total was 4401mm.

Two cyclones followed each other, with the heaviest rain in January  and February.

Our pioneers have handed down catastrophic tales about the flooding  of 1893.

Rivers spread out over farmlands, destroying crops and livestock. All communications were lost as roads, rail lines and telegraph lines were destroyed.

Timber-getters lost badly when logs were washed out to sea. The SS Dicky was wrecked (on what became known as Dicky Beach), falling victim to the cyclonic winds and rough seas.

In 1898, five years later, the flooding and devastation almost equalled that of 1893. Records were set for the first three months of the year’s total of 3634mm of rain. But 1902 was the absolute driest on record, with only 379.2mm for the whole year. There were severe losses of crops and livestock on farms, as well as hardship for town communities as water was rationed.

The 1950s was a wet decade, when six of the years received over two metres of rain. Older residents recall where the floods reached and how they coped. They warn of repetitions.

Our worst year for cyclones was probably 1954 with two, both unnamed.

February’s rainfall of 601.8mm that year was accompanied by fierce winds. The coastline became heavily eroded and low-lying areas were flooded.

The Cooloolabin community hall was destroyed, as was the Catholic Church in Cooroy.

The North Arm hall was blown off its stumps. In Eumundi, the Anglican Church and the School of Arts Hall lost sheets of iron from their roofs.

Six months later, in July, a second cyclone struck. It knocked down the crops that survived the February cyclone.

Hundreds of hectares of cane at Rosemount, Bli Bli and Maroochy River were flattened. Buildings, almost repaired after the February cyclone, were damaged again by the July cyclone.

In April 1955, a freakish, tornado-like wind struck Yandina.

Roaring like a steam engine, it was said to travel at 130kmh in a 200-metre-wide strip, cutting a path of destruction.

Buildings were destroyed.

The sky was littered with flying iron and debris.

Flooding blocked roads. Cane fields and buildings along the Maroochy River suffered as hinterland rain flowed to  the ocean.

‘Wet Wednesday’ – June 22, 1983 – saw 350mm of rain fall over a 24-hour period. A similar event happened in March last year.

On both occasions, residents were alarmed to find Petrie Creek flooding Nambour streets. The damage bill  was horrendous.

The weather bureau says it names its cyclones from an alphabetical list to easily identify them.

Female names such as Daisy, Wanda and Dinah were used from 1963, but female and male names have been used since 1975.

Names of prominent Australians  are not used. So, the March 2025 cyclone was named Alfred, avoiding the  name Anthony.

 Audienne Blyth is a member of the Nambour Historical Museum, open 1-4pm Wednesdays to Fridays, and 10am-3pm on Saturdays.