Did you know ...

• the Indian Meteorological Department was set up as a result of a tropical cyclone that hit Calcutta in 1864, and the subsequent famines in 1866 and 1871 due to failing monsoons?
• the 1917 Pinar del Río hurricane is the third most intense cyclone to make landfall in Cuba, with a low atmospheric pressure reading of 928 mbar (27.40 inHg)?
• Victoria Hotel in Darwin, Australia, has survived three major cyclones and Japanese air raids during World War II?
• Australia's worst maritime disaster of the 20th century was the sinking of the Koombana (pictured) in a cyclone off Port Hedland, Western Australia?