Rising flood waters triggered by heavy rainfall in a cyclone will pose a danger in northwestern Australia for days, with pastoral stations hit hard but no reports of deaths or injuries.
West Australian Premier Roger Cook said ex-tropical cyclone Zelia could have been a lot worse but urged residents to stay alert after record rainfall.
The cyclone was downgraded to category four when it crossed the coast east of Port Hedland on Friday, with debris strewn across the town and roads damaged but infrastructure spared.
‘We’re not quite out of the woods, yet this system has dumped an enormous amount of rain on the Pilbara and will lead to ongoing flooding in the coming days,’ he told reporters in Perth.
A severe weather warning for heavy rainfall has been issued for the Pilbara, Gascoyne, North Interior and South Interior districts. The DeGrey River at the Great Northern Highway is expected to reach major flood level on Saturday afternoon.
At least 63 people have been evacuated from the remote community of Warralong as floodwaters rise.
Emergency Services Commissioner Darren Klemm said conditions remain dangerous.
‘While the cyclone has passed, we’re asking the community to stay alert, because the heavy rain and record flooding in parts of the Pilbara is still occurring,’ he said, ‘The major flooding isn’t expected to subside until next week.’
The weather system has been downgraded to ex-Tropical Cyclone Zelia after crossing WA’s coast on Friday
The heavy rain caused major flooding around Port Hedland with the risk of further flooding to continue into the weekend (pictured: Port Hedland)
There were 60 calls for assistance around the Port Hedland Area after the cyclone hit, but one of the world’s busiest iron ore loading ports was spared and is expected to open later on Saturday following safety inspections.
Work is under way to ensure surrounding communities have enough food in coming days, with the government holding talks with major supermarkets.
The strongest parts of the system hit remote areas, according to Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Angus Hines.
‘In many places, especially around Port Headland, it is fortunate that the winds were not even stronger which certainly could have been the case if the tropical cyclone had taken a different path,’ he said.
A record 500mm of rain fell in just three days in parts of the Pilbara, with 278mm recorded at Upper North Pole in just 18 hours.
The small town of Telfer, about 400km south of Broome, copped 93mm in one hour.
‘This is exceptionally rare for that location and that part of the world,’ Mr Hines said.
‘The rain has caused significant flooding and widespread road closures across the Pilbara region’.
Major mining hub Port Hedland was spared the worst of Zelia’s destructive winds despite earlier fears it would take a direct hit.
Former Port Hedland mayor and councillor Camilo Blanco feared the cyclone would wreck the town and was relieved the worst of it struck about 60km away.
‘We’ve got away with a lot, we’ve dodged a bullet on this one for sure,’ he said.
It had been forecast winds up to 300km/h would smash communities in WA’s Pilbara region
However, the most intense winds struck about 60km away from Port Hedland (pictured the Port Hedland Turf Club)
He said it could take weeks to recover and an enormous amount of work was ahead of the community, urging authorities to provide extra resources.
‘There’s a fair bit of fair bit of cleaning up that needs to be done,’ Mr Blanco told AAP.
Port Hedland is one of the world’s largest iron ore export points, with any lengthy cyclone-enforced port closure potentially disrupting global supply.
Zelia approached WA’s coast with winds of up to 290km/h, initially sparking fears in Port Hedland of Cyclone Ilsa’s deadly impact in 2023 when eight people died.
The Australian Defence Force will assist with the recovery after the wild weather closed roads, schools, shops and ports, with about 200 people fleeing to evacuation centres.
