Cyclone Debbie

Waiting for Cyclone Debbie

Sunday Morning 26 March, 2017 6am.

I am awake early because I am on Cyclone watch, waiting for Cyclone Debbie to make landfall somewhere in the Australian tropics. It is possible that it will affect my area which is the beautiful Whitsundays. It is due to arrive in the next 48 hours. It is an unwelcome visitor as until it lands, we will not know where it will strike and how much damage it will cause. We can only hope and pray that it will have a minimal affect.

As I wait, memories of other Cyclones that I have experienced come flooding back.

This is the first time that I have ever told this story due to the Ansett Airlines of Australia confidentiality clause on the contract that I signed when I joined Ansett Airlines as a Flight Attendant in 1973. This confidentiality clause prevented me from talking to the Press during my term of employment. As Ansett Airlines is now defunct and I am no longer employed by them, it is time to tell the story.

Cyclone Tracy December 25, 1974.

As a junior Air Hostess/ Flight Attendant with Ansett Airlines of Australia, whilst living in Sydney, I was rostered “on call” when I received a very early phone call from an Ansett Airlines of Australia Roster Clerk who advised me that I had been called out to be a member of the crew to fly to Darwin to help evacuate survivors of Cyclone Tracy. Ansett Airline was going to be the first commercial Airline to fly into Darwin following Cyclone Tracy.

I was told to be ready in 20 minutes for my taxi to collect me to take me to the Ansett Airlines domestic terminal at Kingsford Smith Airport, Sydney to sign on. I was told that there was going to be a special briefing as this was not the usual type of flight departure.

I was advised not to bring anything but my handbag. My Ansett Handbag, that in those days resembled a miniature doctor’s bag, contained necessary items which included Purse, keys, Cosmetic purse, Bar float, essential toiletries of tooth brush, shoe shine kit, comb etc. It also had a First Aid kit with first aid manual and in those days it even had Amil Nitrate Capsules (Heart Starters)

I would normally have taken one of my two overnight bags that I kept ready packed. Either my ”summer overnight bag” with warm weather clothes and accessories or my ”winter overnight bag” with cool weather clothes and accessories. In this case it would have been the summer bag because I was heading to Darwin which was always hot but especially hot and humid during December. It was most unusual to be told not to bring an overnight bag but the reason did not occur to me until later that day.

At the Airport in the hostess lounge, the crew that was scheduled to fly to Darwin on Boxing Day, were taken into an office and given a special briefing. We were warned that the situation in Darwin was grim, that we would not be over nighting there as per usual because there was no electricity and running water. Later when I asked one of the Roster Clerks why I was chosen, he said “Because you are great with kids”! We were shown horrific photos of the devastation that Cyclone Tracy had caused to the city of Darwin and it was inferred that if we wanted to back out – to do so now. Of course we all wanted to be able to help, so no one did.

We were to be the first Commercial Aircraft to land in Darwin and the runway had been cleared of Cyclone debris for our arrival.

I remember being shocked at the magnitude of Cyclone Tracy.  One photo showed an Aircraft that had been flipped upside down, glued to the spot on the runway at Darwin Airport.

Although we had been warned of the devastation, nothing prepared me for what I was to see as we flew over the wreckage that was once the city of Darwin.

We made a low level approach in the Ansett Boeing 727. I believe that the control tower had been knocked out of action so we made a visual approach. We must have been flying at just 500 feet.

As we flew across Darwin, from my position on the forward hostess seat at the front of the Aircraft, whilst peering out the porthole, we could see rubble. What was once 41,000 houses were now twisted metal and splintered sticks, flattened to the ground.

On landing, as we raced along the runway, we swept past Aircraft flipped upside down or punched sideways by the pounding winds of a Category 4 Cyclone. Debris had to be swept off the runway for our aircraft to land.

Although Aircraft remains and shattered Airport building debris had been pushed to the side of the runway, Darwin Airport it looked like a war zone.

Once landed, the usual order of fare welling passengers, escorting small children or elderly passengers and disembarking the other passengers, re-provisioning the aircraft and preparing the aircraft for departure did not take place. We had no passengers to disembark and extra provisions had already been loaded in Sydney.

Because we were not staying overnight, and due to the length of flying time, 9 hours, we were driven to the Travelodge Hotel in Darwin for a rest period.

I was in so much shock when I saw the destroyed homes and rubble strewn across what remained of the streets of Darwin that I can’t quite remember how long we stayed at the hotel. I remember that the Flight Attendants all grouped in one room. The Male crew in another. We sat around, stunned by what we had seen. Where, on the usual over night when we gathered as a group of Flight Attendants in one room, we would tell stories and share jokes, on this occasion we had nothing much to say at all. There was stunned silence!

When we looked out the hotel window, the biggest shock was yet to come. Upturned in the Hotel swimming pool was a large sedan car. I had never seen anything quite like it! How could a large and heavy vehicle be tossed like a child’s discarded toy into a large Hotel swimming pool? What happened to the driver? I was never told.

Back on board the Boeing 727, we assumed our roles as clear headed, cool, calm Air Hostesses/Flight Attendants who were trained for any emergency. Back then 90% of our training was how to deal with emergency situations. We were positioned along the cabin ready to seat the passengers.

We had completed our pre-flight emergency check, positioned the safety cards, sprayed the toilet with Air-freshner, tidied the seat belts and checked our appearance in readiness for the passengers embarkation.

I was standing at the front door in my position to welcome the passengers. The Traffic officer with the Walkie-Talkie alerted me that the passengers were ready to come across the Tarmac to board the Aircraft.

I braced myself as I knew that this would no normal be a normal passenger embarkation  but I was not ready for the utter disaster that I was to witness.

A team of ground crew came on board and smartly started removing the arm rests. This was not usual. When I asked what was happening, I was told that a greater than normal number of passengers would be boarding the Aircraft.

As the Passengers shuffled across the Tarmac, most of those poor people seemed to be in a trance. Some walked, some limped, injured passengers, mothers tightly holding onto the little hands of their children, pregnant women. They all looked dazed and bewildered, battered and bruised!

The first thing that I noticed as they stepped on board the aircraft was that no-one was carrying anything! Where was all their carry-on luggage? Of course, they had none! Not a handbag, umbrella, coat, small bag. No children’s toys. Nothing! They were standing in the clothes that they had been wearing for the last two days!

As they began to take their seats, those with injuries became more apparent as they struggled to sit comfortably. With no arm rests, they were jammed in like sardines. And there were many that were injured. Injuries like I had never seen before but resembled atrocities of war. Fractured arms, bandaged with slings applied. Fractured legs with plaster. Thick, striped indented lines bruised across heads and faces. Wounds caused by falling beams of wood, all manner of wounds that had been treated by first-aiders, the only available treatment for so many victims. 71 people had been killed. These were the lucky ones.

We had been provisioned with plenty of refreshments which we offered to the passengers on numerous occasions. As the flight progressed, the aircraft was noticeably devoid of the normal happy chatter of holidaying passengers. Silence like fog swept over the aircraft. People were deep in thought with some falling asleep for the first time in 48 hours, some silently weeping. Shock and disbelief had set in.

My Air hostess job was to make each and every passenger comfortable, treat any minor wounds, and offer words of comfort and sympathy and to feed them.We had to ensure that the passengers were hydrated as some would not have had fresh food and water for days. Extra food and water was loaded onto the Aircraft in Sydney.

Normally we would have baggage in the baggage hold beneath the aircraft but in this case we had none. Not one passenger on board our aircraft had managed to check-in their possessions. They were homeless and devoid of any personal possessions. Many had lost family members. They were all suffering.

When we landed in Sydney, the flood gates opened  and tears ran down weary faces. Those with family were met and enfolded in the arms of their loved ones.

Authorities met those who needed help and the process to recovery began.

As a crew, we signed off and were taken home by taxis. No debrief. No counseling. Back then it was all in a day’s work!

Cyclone Ului

Before we left, we sent out an email to our family and friends.

 Sunday night March 26, 2017

Thursday March 30, 2017

Hi Jennifer