Cyclone Ingrid is a tropical cyclone which developed in the Coral Sea on March 3, 2005. Although it built up to category 5 on 8 March 2005 out at sea, it diminished to category 3 on March 9 as it moved west towards the Australian coast. The centre, with very destructive wind gusts up to 220 km/h within a 20 km radius, reached the far northern coast of the Australian state of Queensland between 6 am and 9 am on 10 March 2005 AEST and hit the Cape York Peninsula as a category 2, but was downgraded to a category 1 as it crossed the peninsula north of the towns of Coen and Lockhart River . Only minor wind damage and flooding occurred. Off the southern coast of Papua New Guinea five people lost their lives when their boat overtuned in the wild seas generated by the cyclonic winds.
After passing the town of Weipa, Ingrid gained strength once again as it moved out across the Gulf of Carpentaria towards the Northern Territory, hitting the town of Nhulunbuy as a category 4 and continued to intensify into a category 5 cyclone, with gusts near the centre reaching speeds of 320 km/h. It crossed the Coburg Peninsula in the early hours of 13 March, heading west. The isolated communities along the coast have suffered considerable damage, and there has been localised flooding in the coastal areas due to high tides.
Ingrid crossed the Tiwi Islands as a category 3 storm, and moved west across into the Timor Sea. Winds were in excess of 200 km/h. Much of the infrastructure on these islands has been affected, some suffering consequential damage due to trees falling on buildings and vehicles. Darwin experienced high winds and heavy rain, but was only affected by the southern edge of the cyclone. Darwin was substantially destroyed by Cyclone Tracy (category 4) on Christmas morning, 25 December 1974.
On March 15 Ingrid approached the north coast of the Kimberley region of Western Australia as a category 5 storm, with wind gusts of up to 320km/h, and made landfall shortly afterwards. It quickly weakened as it moved inland, and soon completely dissipated.
(Note: The storm categories above are as defined by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology [1], and differ from those used in the United States.)
External links