More than 80 West Australians are sheltering in evacuation centres as Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle leaves a trail of destruction along the northern coastline.
The category 3 cyclone is currently over Coral Bay, and has brought down trees, lifted roofs off homes and the local evacuation centre, and sunk boats from the Pilbara down to the northern Gascoyne region.
Narelle glanced the coast on Friday near Exmouth, with wind gusts reaching 250km/h. It also dumped 200 millimetres of rain on the town, and washed out the local canal system with a storm surge.
Residents told this masthead conditions had quickly deteriorated throughout the evening, likening the cyclone to a “freight train”, and said buildings were shaking from impact.
Authorities urged people south of Coral Bay to Overlander Roadhouse, south of Overlander Roadhouse to Binnu, south of Mardie to Onslow and west of Onslow to Coral Bay to shelter indoors as the system passed over throughout Friday.
A number of Pilbara minesites have shut down as the system passes, and workers have been evacuated as a precaution. The local ports have also been evacuated, with ships sent to safer waters to ride out the storm.
Flights into the region have been cancelled, and a number of tourists up and down the coast have left as Narelle passes over. Residents have also moved to local evacuation centres as a precaution, with some buildings south of Exmouth not rated to withstand such a strong cyclone.
There are currently 49 people at Carnarvon’s evacuation centre, 34 in Exmouth and three in Shark Bay, and Emergency Services Commissioner Darren Klemm there had been a total of 25 calls for assistance across the Pilbara and Gascoyne throughout the evening for downed trees and flooding.
There are reports the roof has been partially lifted at the Shire of Exmouth’s evacuation building, and about 2000 homes in the Pilbara and Mid West are currently without power.
Energy Minister Amber Jade Sanderson said the state government was aware of the outages, and said three Western Power emergency response generators had been re-deployed to Geraldton to keep the region online.
Sanderson said helicopters to offer assistance were also on stand by.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s James Ashley said the impact of Narelle was far from over.
“Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle continues to be a large and powerful system moving southwards close to the upper part of the west coast of WA,” he said.
“Because of the large size of this system, conditions in [Exmouth] deteriorated on Thursday evening, and there’s still a few more hours to go before conditions significantly improve.
“In just the last six hours, 200 millimetres of rain has fallen in that area, which is incredibly intense rainfall.”
Ashley said the destructive core of Narelle was currently over Coral Bay, and would reach Carnarvon on Friday afternoon.
“While the system is expected to slowly weaken as it moves over land between Coral Bay and Cape Cuvier, it is likely to still be a category 3 system as it moves just inland from Carnarvon and inland from Shark Bay, further south.”
Ashley warned the worst of the wind would be to the east of the cyclone’s track, although areas like Kalbarri and Geraldton may still see damaging winds into Friday evening and in the early hours of Saturday morning.
“But inland areas are likely to experience the worst of the conditions,” he said.
The bureau said Narelle would likely weaken to a tropical low as it approached the Wheatbelt, and up to 50mm of rain could be expected in Perth throughout Saturday.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the federal government would potentially offer its support during the aftermath of the cyclone.
“Look after each other, follow advice, and pay close attention to local warnings,” he told a press conference on Friday.
Premier Roger Cook said the situation had been discussed in a special Security and Emergency Committee of Cabinet meeting this morning.
“We know everyone in the North West are made of tough stuff, but our thoughts are with you all,” he said.
“It must be a very confronting situation for residents and personnel in that area.
“It may take some time for us to some time for the extent of the damage to be known, but in the meantime, I urge those in the region to follow the advice, and monitor the situation through emergency WA and stay safe.”
Klemm said emergency services were slowly beginning to assess the damage further north.
“As we get a clearer picture of the extent of the damage, [emergency services] will continue to work with the local governments and communities in the region to determine what sort of support they need for the ongoing impacts,” he said.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
