Oswald

History

Tropical Cyclone Oswald originated as a tropical low over the Gulf of Carpentaria, first monitored by the Bureau of Meteorology on 17 January 2013. The system made an initial landfall southwest of Borroloola on 19 January before looping back over the Gulf and intensifying into a named tropical cyclone on 21 January. It made its second landfall north of Kowanyama on the Cape York Peninsula with winds of around 65 km/h. Despite crossing onto land, Oswald maintained a coherent circulation and tracked slowly southward along the Queensland coast, eventually passing south of Sydney and emerging into the Tasman Sea by 30 January, having travelled more than 3,000 kilometres.

The storm's prolonged inland movement generated catastrophic flooding and severe weather across Queensland and New South Wales. In Queensland, particularly hard-hit areas included Bundaberg, where the Burnett River reached a record 9.53 metres and over 7,500 residents were evacuated. Three tornadoes struck the Bundaberg region on 26 January, injuring at least 17 people and damaging 150 properties. Four fatalities were recorded in Queensland. In New South Wales, approximately 41,000 people were temporarily isolated by flooding, with the Clarence River at Grafton reaching a new record height. Total damage across the affected region reached at least A$2.4 billion.

Sources: Bureau of Meteorology report Wikipedia