A photo of Cyclone George from space at 10:55 AM on 8 March 2007. You can see the clear hole in the middle (the eye) of the big Category 5 storm as it comes to the land near Port Hedland.
Disaster • 2007

Cyclone George

A very big Category 5 storm hit the iron mines in Australia — and the whole world could feel it.

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By Dr. Joshua Falken
•8 April 2026•12 min read

Very early in the morning on 8 March 2007, a very big Category 5 storm hit the coast of Western Australia. The wind was 240 km/h. Not many people live in this area. There are just some mines and a few small fishing towns. But Cyclone George hit the iron mines. And the iron mines make lots of money for Australia. When George hit, the whole world felt it.

The Pilbara is in the north-west of Australia. It is a very special place. Under the red dirt, there is lots and lots of iron. It is some of the best iron in the world. Every year, trucks dig up millions of tonnes of iron. Then big ships take the iron to Japan, South Korea, and (most of all) China. China uses this iron to make steel. They need lots and lots of steel. So the mines in the Pilbara were making lots of money. The big mines are owned by BHP and Rio Tinto. These mines are very important for Australia.

At 1:50 AM on 8 March, Cyclone George hit the land just south of Port Hedland. It was the biggest cyclone to hit this area since Cyclone Joan way back in 1975. The top wind gusts were 295 km/h. The storm caused 2.9 billion dollars of damage in the area. But it did not break homes and schools, like Darwin or Innisfail. It broke the machines that move the iron, the things that load the ships, the mine buildings, the roads, and the camps where the workers live.

“

We were sheltering in a demountable. I could hear the steel walls moving. Not vibrating — actually flexing. And then the roof lifted off and we just held onto each other in the dark.

In easy words: We were hiding in a small hut. I could hear the steel walls moving. They were not just shaking — they were bending. Then the roof came off. We just held each other in the dark.

— Mining camp worker, Ophthalmia Dam site, March 2007

People Died

Three people died in Cyclone George. They were all at the Ophthalmia Dam work camp. This camp was run by a mining company called Fortescue Metals Group. It was south of Port Hedland. The three men died when the small huts they were in got blown over and broken by the wind. One more man was very hurt but he lived.

A mine work camp before Cyclone George. Rows of small huts in the red Pilbara dirt. The same mine work camp after Cyclone George. Everything is smashed and broken.
← Before George After Landfall →

When the three men died, people started looking hard at the work camps. They looked at how the huts were built. And they looked at what the mine did to get ready for a cyclone. They found a big problem. The mines had grown very fast. Lots of workers would fly in to work and fly out again. But no one had made proper rules for the huts where those workers sleep. The rules had not kept up with all the new work camps in cyclone places.

A photo from up high of the Port Hedland iron port in Western Australia. You can see huge piles of iron ore, long machines that carry it, and big ships.
The Iron Coast Port Hedland — the busiest iron port on Earth. George made it stop for two weeks. This meant less iron got to the places that make steel in other countries.
Click to expand

The Whole World Felt It

After the storm, no ships left Port Hedland for about two weeks. To know how big this is: Port Hedland sends out more iron than any other port on Earth. Every year, it sends out more than 500 million tonnes of iron. 80 out of every 100 tonnes go to China. So when it stops for two weeks, the people who buy and sell iron in Tokyo, London, and Shanghai all feel it.

At that time, the steel places in China were making lots and lots of steel. They were very busy. They did not want to slow down. So they had to look in other places to get iron. The price of iron went up. People who owned bits of Australian mines saw the prices jump. One storm in a far away place had changed things all over the world. It showed us something we did not know. The whole world needed this little bit of red Australian coast.

business_centerImpact Story — How It Hurt Money

From the Pilbara to the World: How One Storm Shook the Whole World

“The plant was just offline. No power, no comms, nothing moving. And I’m thinking — there are a thousand ships around the world that were supposed to load from us this month. Someone is going to feel this.”

In easy words: The port was just not working. No power, no phones, nothing moving. And I kept thinking — there are a thousand ships all around the world that were coming to us this month. Someone is going to notice this.

— Senior operations manager, Pilbara port facility, March 2007

In 2007, Australia was making lots of money from its mines. This was because China wanted so much steel. Iron is the most valuable thing Australia sells to other countries. In 2007, Australia sold 275 million tonnes of iron. Most of it came from the Pilbara. Port Hedland has lots of big ships coming in and out all the time. Each ship can carry up to 300,000 tonnes of iron.

When George shut Port Hedland for two weeks, it did not just hurt Australia. It hurt the whole world of steel. The price of iron went up. Steel places in Japan and South Korea had made promises to give steel to car and building companies. Now they had to work hard to find enough iron.

Cyclone George showed us a big problem. If one little place makes so much of the world's iron, the whole world is in trouble when something bad happens there. It is like this: if Pilbara gets sick, the whole world of steel gets sick too.

After George, the big mining companies spent lots of money to make the mines tougher. They made the port at Port Hedland better so it could start working again fast after a storm. They also looked at the camps where workers sleep. This was because of the three men who died at Ophthalmia Dam. They made new rules. Now all worker camps in cyclone places have to be much stronger.

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What To Learn: Local Work & the Whole World

When something bad happens in one place, it can hurt people a long way away. All the places in the world are linked by what they buy and sell.

  • check_circleSupply chains are the path from the start to the end of making something. For example: iron in the ground → mine trucks → ship → steel place → new car. If one part of the path stops (like the port), everything that comes after can stop too.
  • check_circleWorld markets are where people buy and sell things like iron, coal, wheat, and oil. The price can change very fast when something bad happens. A cyclone in WA can change the price of steel in Tokyo in just a few hours.
  • check_circleBeing ready for bad things is about having back-up plans. Like extra sellers, extra stuff saved up, or other ways to move things. This helps when one thing breaks. Australia's mines learned this from George.
  • check_circleKeeping workers safe is very important. The three men who died at Ophthalmia Dam showed us that workers who fly in to work can be in danger. They often sleep in small huts. Australia changed the rules about safety at work after this.
After the Storm

The Pilbara After George

Photos from the Pilbara after Cyclone George hit the land as a very big Category 5 storm — from the broken work camp at Ophthalmia Dam to the quiet port at Port Hedland.

Photo of damage at a Western Australian Pilbara mine camp. Small huts flipped over and broken.
Figure 2.1

A mine camp all broken — 295 km/h winds smashed the huts like they were nothing.

Photo of a small hut at De Grey Station flipped on its side after Cyclone George
Figure 2.2

Flipped over by the wind — heavy huts flipped like they were toys.

Big truck flipped on its side on a dusty Pilbara road after Cyclone George
Figure 2.3

The Power of the Storm — Even big heavy trucks could not stop the Cat 5 wind.

Close-up photo of ripped metal and broken buildings at a mine camp
Figure 2.4

Metal All Ripped Up — huge damage at the FMG build site.

Port Hedland iron port — huge piles of iron and long machines to move it
Figure 2.5

The Heart of the Money — Port Hedland was quiet for weeks after the storm hit.

Weather Records

The Path of the Storm

Maps from the weather people. They show where Cyclone George started (in the sea near the west of Australia) and where it went until it hit the land near Port Hedland as a big Category 5 storm.

A map from the weather people showing Cyclone George's path in 2007. It moved from the Northern Territory to where it hit the land in WA.
Figure 3.1

The Path of the Storm — from the sea up north, through the Kimberley, and then hitting the land as a Cat 5 near Port Hedland.

A weather map showing how much rain fell in the Pilbara — more than 200mm in lots of places.
Figure 3.2

How Much Rain Fell — Lots of rain soaked the dry red Pilbara dirt. Lots of roads to the mines were flooded.

A map showing the paths predicted by many computers for Cyclone George before it hit land
Figure 3.3

Computer Guesses — A "spaghetti" map. Different computer brains guess where the storm will go. These are the guesses from one day before it hit.

News Stories

The News Front Pages

The news about Cyclone George had two big stories. One was the three men who died at the mine camp. The other was how much it hurt the money Australia makes from iron.

The West Australian

“Three Dead as George Hits Pilbara Camp”

In easy words: Three people died when George hit the Pilbara camp.

8 March 2007 — The big news paper from WA led with the story about the three men who died at the mine camp. People were finding out how bad the storm had been.

8 Mar 2007
The Australian Financial Review

“Iron Ore Prices Surge After Port Hedland Shutdown”

In easy words: The price of iron jumps up fast because Port Hedland has to stop.

9 March 2007 — The money news looked at how much this would cost. They looked at how the price of iron went up. And how people tried to buy iron from Brazil instead.

9 Mar 2007
The Australian

“Are Mining Camps Safe? The Questions George Left Behind”

In easy words: Are the mine camps safe? George has left us with a big question.

March 2007 — A big story about the rules for workers who fly in to work at the mines. It came because three men died at Ophthalmia Dam.

March 2007