Aussies in a series of isolated coastal towns have been covered in a layer of red dust while being battered by a destructive cyclone.
Tropical Cyclone Narelle was downgraded to a category two system overnight after making landfall in Western Australia‘s northwest.
The storm left a trail of destruction in the Pilbara and North West Cape before crossing the coast near Coral Bay and heading for Carnarvon.
Shire president Eddie Smith said Carnarvon had been blanketed by a thick, red dust storm for about two hours, and wind gusts topped 100km/h.
Shark Bay Caravan Park in Exmouth shared footage of the red dust.
‘Incredibly eerie outside and everything is covered in dust. Not a lot of wind yet,’ they said, adding the dust could be felt in your nose and mouth.
‘Let’s hope we get enough rain to wash it all off.
‘It’s an inside day for us that’s for sure.’
Pictured is a tree during the wind storm, with gusts reaching up to 100km/hour on Friday
Roof panels were ripped off a home in Exmouth as Cyclone Narelle wreaked havoc
Holiday town Exmouth, 1,250km north of Perth, copped the full force of Narelle’s fury when the category four storm generated winds in excess of 250km/h.
Roofs were torn off buildings, power was lost, homes were flooded and about 50 people had to abandon the isolated town’s evacuation centre when it sustained wind damage.
Narelle tracked south to Coral Bay and made landfall just south of the tiny town before weakening to a category three system.
The storm passed to the east of Carnarvon on Friday afternoon as a category three before further weakening into a category two system northeast of Kalbarri and Geraldton.
‘We’re expecting some pretty significant damage,’ Department and Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Darren Klemm said on Friday.
‘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.’
Exmouth was expected to be severely impacted, Mr Klemm said.
Narelle was an ‘incredibly complex cyclone’ because of the track it took from the Kimberley down the Pilbara coastline, he said.
Narelle (pictured in this Weatherzone map) tracked south to Coral Bay and made landfall just south of Exmouth on Friday before weakening to a category three system
‘It was always going to have multiple impacts into multiple towns as it came down the coast.’
Narelle is expected to continue its southeast trajectory into the northern Wheatbelt on Saturday.
Damaging winds and heavy rainfall are possible in southeast WA, as the system passes through the Wheatbelt region before moving off the south coast into the Southern Ocean.
