As tropical Cyclone Kelvin pelts Western Australia’s far north with destructive winds and heavy rain, lives and homes are in danger. Tropical Cyclone Kelvin crossed the Western Australian Coast on Sunday morning near Anna Plains Station, about 250km south of Broome, as a category 2 storm, resulting in extreme strong winds and causing floods that could cut the main highway for up to two weeks.
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According to some reports, elsewhere in the region, lives and homes remained in danger. A red alert for people between the Bidyadanga aboriginal community and sandfire in the Kimberley region was active throughout.
However, in the entire region, people were strictly warned to remain inside their homes and shelter in the strongest part of their house or building or at the evacuation center, away from doors and windows, and to keep emergency kits with them. A yellow alert was in place for people between Broome and Bidyadanga.
Meanwhile, the cyclone is likely to weaken as it continued to move inland, but destructive winds, with gusts to 150km/h, were likely near the center of the system.
Rainfall had been so heavy in Broome that the yearly total was now at 1,467mm, which is only 29.6mm less than the record 1496.6mm in 2000. Although the threat had passed, people were still warned to take care to avoid hazards.
The storm is forecast to pass east of the major iron ore mining region around Newman and is expected to leave the Hancock prospecting mines hope downs and Roy Hill unaffected. The two projects have a combined yearly production target of more than 100 million tons of iron ore.
Image Credit: Herald sun