Tropical Cyclone Ilsa has made landfall on the coast of north-west Western Australia after setting a new sustained wind speed record for Australia of 218km/h.
Ilsa was downgraded to category 4 from the highest-severity system of 5 shortly after it reached the coast of Western Australia near Pardoo Roadhouse around 140km east of Port Hedland.
The Bureau of Meteorology said that Ilsa had set a new preliminary Australian, 10-minute-sustained wind speed record of 218km/h at Bedout Island just off the coast. Cyclone George was the previous record holder with 194km/h in 2007 at the same location.
#CycloneIlsa has set a new preliminary Australian ten-minute sustained wind speed record of 218km/h at Bedout Island! Cyclone George was the previous record holder with 194km/h back in 2007 at the very same location! For the latest https://t.co/6laIpVWtSM pic.twitter.com/m3jsJCadko
— Bureau of Meteorology, Western Australia (@BOM_WA) April 13, 2023
The Indo-Pacific tropical cyclone warning centre tweeted that Ilsa was packing maximum wind gusts of 160mph (257km/h).
— IPTCWC (@warning_center) April 13, 2023IPTCWC SPECIAL ADVISORY #18S ILSA
SUPER CYCLONE #ILSA
This is a special advisory to reflect the landfall of Super Cyclone ILSA near Pardoo Roadhouse near 20.1°S 119.9°E at 1605z on April 13, 2023 with Max Winds of 160mph and a 919mb pressure, a Category 5 Super Cyclone. pic.twitter.com/XiF9dcJ07n
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Residents in some areas were urged to seek shelter immediately, as the storm – currently with gusts of up to 285km/h – made its approach.
Communities from Bidyadanga to Port Hedland and inland to Marble Bar, were urged to find shelter immediately.
“It is too late to leave,” the warning said. “Stay in the strongest, safest part of the building.”
Todd Smith, a Bureau of Meteorology spokesman, said category 5 cyclones were “incredibly dangerous”.
“That is going to cause a heap of damage,” he said. “Any houses that aren’t built to code are going to suffer extensive damage ... Fortunately it looks like the system is going to cross in a relatively unpopulated part of the coast.”
The Port Hedland mayor, Peter Carter, said the town of about 16,000 was expecting a “really rough night”.
“It’s getting closer and closer,” he said. “Cat five ... that’s strong winds in anyone’s terms.”
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Carter said earlier on Thursday that an eerie quiet had descended over the town of 16,000 as residents prepared for impact.
“What’s happening with this cyclone is very unusual and a lot of people are getting very worried because it’s getting closer and closer to Port Hedland,” he said.
“Everyone is on edge. They understand that cyclones are what they are. They’re very, very unpredictable.”
Carter urged people to watch out for household objects turning into flying debris.
“All our residents are basically putting away their barbecues and outdoor furniture,” he said.
He added that loose objects travelling at high speeds had the potential to become “missiles in the air”.
Evacuation centres had been opened in South Hedland, Newman, Marble Bar and Nullagine.
“Port Hedland is a very transient town. We have people from overseas who don’t understand what cyclones do,” Carter said. “It’s not a normal storm. These things hang around for two or three hours and have very destructive winds.”
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Communities from Bidyadanga to Whim Creek, including Port Hedland and inland to Marble Bar, Nullagine and Telfer, had been urged to move their vehicles under cover and keep their emergency kits on hand.
The BoM forecast abnormally high tides, destructive winds and up to 300mm of rain. Workers and tourists at Eighty Mile Beach caravan park and nearby Wallal Downs cattle station were evacuated, along with non-critical workers at Newcrest’s Telfer mine and BHP’s sites across the region.
Extra emergency workers, essential supplies and aircraft have been sent to the area.
The fire and emergency services commissioner, Darren Klemm, said the weather system would have a significant impact on communities in the warning area.
“The strength of the cyclone will be maintained as it moves quickly inland,” he said.
“All the preparation work that’s gone into those remote Aboriginal communities, the mine sites and the town and the pastoral stations is really critical to make sure people are staying safe.”
Ilsa was forecast to maintain tropical cyclone intensity into Friday as it tracked inland to Telfer and moved east.
The manager of the remote Pardoo roadhouse, Will Batth, said he was planning to stay and hunker down with a colleague once the storm hit.
“We haven’t had any as strong as this in many years. This is a big one,” he said. “[But] there’s no point in worrying. I can’t stop it.”
The Warrawagine cattle station manager, Belinda Lethbridge, said the situation was concerning but her team had prepared as much as they could and it was now down to luck.
“It is what is,” she said. “We just have to wait it out now and see what happens.”
She said her family and staff would sit out the cyclone together and expected to be flooded in by swollen rivers after it passed.
Communities from Beagle Bay to Broome have been given the all-clear, but have been asked to watch out for residual damage, including fallen trees and power lines.
The last time a category 5 cyclone hit WA was Severe Tropical Cyclone Laurence, which hit a very similar stretch of coastline in December 2009.
The Indo-Pacific tropical cyclone warning centre said that the storm would weaken “drastically” as it pushed inland and would probably be downgraded to a tropical storm later on Friday.
