Authorities are planning aerial surveys as most populated areas appear to be escaping serious damage.
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 appear 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 making landfall near the sparsely populated town of Pardoo, about 19 hours northeast of Perth.
The owners of the Pardoo Roadhouse, a well-known gas station and caravan park in the storm’s path, said on Facebook that it had “experienced extensive damage”.
Photos showed the roof torn away and the building open to the sky with goods tossed off the shelves. The floor was covered with rubble.
“We are all still a little shocked 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 spirits away.
“We are facing a massive cleanup with plans to rebuild.”
Authorities said major population centers “appeared to have escaped the brunt of the cyclone,” but there were unconfirmed reports of “extensive damage” in some remote areas, emergency services spokesman Peter Sutton told national broadcaster ABC.
He said an aerial survey would be conducted as soon as it was safe.
Seriously Tropical #CycloneIlsa crossed the coast as a Category 5 system about 120 km ENE of #PortHedland around midnight on Thursday 13 April, with an estimated intensity of 213 km/h. Stay tuned for alerts https://t.co/NikaX4QRKr and follow advice from @dfes_wa pic.twitter.com/SuiKcEU3Yf
— Bureau of Meteorology, Western Australia (@BOM_WA) April 13, 2023
The Bureau of Meteorology said the cyclone set a preliminary Australian record for strongest sustained winds over a 10-minute period, averaging 218 kilometers per hour (135 mph) with gusts of 288 km/h (179 mph).
The previous record was 194 km/h and was set in 2007 by Cyclone George.
Australian researchers have repeatedly warned that climate change increases the risk of natural disasters such as bushfires, floods and cyclones.
New alerts
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 all was clear.
“There is danger to lives and homes,” the department said.
Tropical storms usually run out of steam once they make landfall, but Ilsa is expected to maintain unusual intensity as it moves through the interior of the desert in the coming days with a risk of flash floods and destructive winds.
“As it moves inland and the sun rises, we can expect it to still be a severe tropical cyclone,” said the weather agency’s Hazard Response Manager, Shenagh Gamble.
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 reserves 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.