It was a night that will never be forgotten in Albany.
Almost 50 years ago, cyclone Alby tore through Albany and the Great Southern, leaving a trail of destruction from the coastline to the bush and forever marking April 4, 1978 in the region’s history.
The Albany Advertiser captured the ordeal, describing the disaster as “the night of terror and destruction”.
“Albany and the region will not be the same for months,” the article read.
“It will take at least two weeks just to clear roads and verges of wreckage.
“There is hardly a family unaffected by the disaster.”
The Bureau of Meteorology had tracked Alby as it moved south over the water, with expectations it would weaken as it encountered cooler waters.
Instead, the system accelerated towards the south-west, bringing destructive conditions to a huge area of WA.
Albany recorded the strongest wind gust of Alby at 150km/h as the storm battered the city with its fierce winds and enormous swells.
The conditions proved deadly.
Two Albany men, John “Sharky” Edwards and Alan Higgins, set out in a dinghy to check a boat mooring in Princess Royal Harbour.
They were reported missing at about 9pm but the weather was so severe that a rescue boat could not be launched.
Mr Edwards was found dead at Quaranup the following morning, while Mr Higgins remained missing later that day.
The cyclone’s destruction extended well beyond the coastline, with fires driven by the powerful winds burning through an estimated 114,000ha of forest and farming land across the South West.
In Kendenup, 42-year-old Edna McLaren was fighting a fire when a pine tree fell and killed her.
Others were injured as people attempted to protect homes and property from the storms effects, including a man who was thrown from a roof while trying to repair a hole.
For Albany, the storm also left a lasting legacy along the coast, with Middleton Beach among the areas affected by the powerful combination of wind and rough seas.
The disaster recovery repair bill cost tens of millions of dollars.
Nearly five decades later, the storm remains one of the defining natural disasters in Albany’s history and is a reminder of how quickly the region’s familiar coastline and quiet communities can be transformed by the force of nature.
