News
|
Weather
Australia buffeted by record winds as cyclone hits northwest
Authorities plan for aerial survey as most populated areas appear to escape serious damage.
A view of ships at Port Hedland. The earth is red and dusty.
Cyclone-prone northwestern Australia is sparsely-populated but a major site for iron ore mining and exports [File: David Gray/Reuters]
Published On 14 Apr 2023
14 Apr 2023
A severe tropical cyclone has crashed into northwestern Australia with the strongest winds the country has ever recorded but officials said the region’s towns and cities appeared to have escaped the worst of the storm.
Tropical Cyclone Ilsa was upgraded to a Category 5 storm – the strongest on the scale – shortly before it made landfall near the sparsely-populated town of Pardoo, about 19 hours’ drive northeast of Perth.
KEEP READING
list of 4 items
list 1 of 4
Australia’s northwest braces for strongest cyclone in a decade
list 2 of 4
Photos: Ashfall widespread as Russian volcano continues to erupt
list 3 of 4
Canadian Arctic Snow School hopes to boost climate fight
list 4 of 4
‘Heartbreaking’: New US tornado kills five, destroys homes
end of list
The owners of the Pardoo Roadhouse, a well-known petrol station and caravan park in the path of the storm, said on Facebook it had “suffered great damage”.
Photos showed the roof torn away and the building open to the sky with goods flung from the shelves. The floor was covered with debris.
“We are all still a bit shaken and emotional to see the damage from Cyclone Ilsa,” manager Kelly Anne Martinez wrote. “She may have wiped us out, but she can’t take our spirit away.
“We face a massive clean-up with plans to rebuild.”
Authorities said big population centres appeared to have “escaped the brunt of the cyclone” but there were unconfirmed reports of “extensive damage” in some remote areas, emergency services spokesperson Peter Sutton told the national broadcaster ABC.
He said an aerial survey would be carried out as soon as it was safe.
The Bureau of Meteorology said the cyclone had set a preliminary Australian record for the strongest sustained wind speeds over a 10-minute period, averaging 218 kilometres per hour (135 mph) with gusts of 288km/h (179 mph).
Sign up for Al Jazeera
Week in the Middle East
Catch up on our coverage of the region, all in one place.
E-mail address
Sign up
By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy
The previous record was 194 km/h (120mph), which was set in 2007 by Cyclone George.
Australian researchers have repeatedly warned that climate change amplifies the risk of natural disasters such as bushfires, floods and cyclones.
New warnings
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services issued a new series of “red alerts” as the storm moved inland, ordering people to stay indoors until given the all-clear.
“There is a threat to lives and homes,” the department said.
Tropical storms typically run out of steam once they reach land but Ilsa is forecast to maintain an unusual intensity as it moves across the desert interior in the coming days with a risk of flash floods and destructive winds.
“As it moves inland and the sun comes up, we can expect it to still be a severe tropical cyclone,” the weather bureau’s hazard response manager Shenagh Gamble said.
The northwest coast of Western Australia is the most “cyclone-prone region” in the country, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
It also has “the highest incidence of cyclones in the southern hemisphere”.
The region is home to some of Australia’s largest mining operations and holds significant deposits of iron ore, copper and gold.
Port Hedland, the world’s largest iron ore export hub, also appeared to have escaped the worst of the storm.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
