Canberra, April 13 (BNA): A tropical cyclone near Australia is expected to be the strongest storm to hit the country in eight years, with winds reaching 315 kilometers (196 miles) per hour as it crosses the northwest coast. , meteorologists said Thursday.
Tornadoes are common along the sparsely populated Pilbara coast in Western Australia state, the Associated Press (AP) said, and deaths are rare, but authorities fear Hurricane Elsa’s unusual wind speeds could catch some by surprise.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology said Elsa reached its highest Category 5 intensity Thursday over the Indian Ocean, and is expected to maintain that destructive level as it crosses the Pilbara coast early Friday.
Category 5 hurricanes have average wind speeds in excess of 200 kmph (124 mph) with gusts exceeding 280 kmph (174 mph). They usually cause widespread destruction, the office said.
Another Category 5 storm crosses the Australian Cowas IslandsThe was Cyclone Marcia in 2015. Marcia caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage in Queensland on the east coast.
In 2019, Category 5 Hurricane Veronica did not cross the Pilbara coast, but it destroyed infrastructure and disrupted the mining and gas industries in the area.
The Ilsa is expected to cross the coast somewhere about 220 kilometers (137 miles) between the iron ore export town of Port Hedland and the station of Wallal Downs, a 200,000-hectare (500,000-acre) cattle farm to the east.
The bureau said those close to where Elsa made landfall will see winds of up to 315 kilometers per hour (196 mph).
The storm’s expected landing is near the remote Pardoo Roadhouse and Tavern where Principal Will Batth had planned to house it.
“We haven’t had any powerhouses like this in many years,” said Bath. “There’s no point in worrying. I can’t stop it.”
On Thursday, police closed the motorway along the Pilbara coast between Port Hedland and the tourist town of Broome, 610km (380 miles) to the northeast, to prevent motorists from risking deteriorating conditions. Authorities expect the Northwest Coastal Highway to be passable due to flooding before Elsa passes.
Port Hedland and Broome are the largest population centers in the Pilbara region with a population of 16,000 and 15,000 people, respectively.
Bidiadanga, home to about 700 people halfway between Wallal Downs station and Broome, stocked up on enough food and fuel by Thursday to last a week should the community be cut off by floodwaters. Pediadenga CEO Tanya Baxter said preserving the community’s electricity will be critical to how we weather the storm.
“Without electricity, we don’t have water and maybe even communications,” Baxter said. “So if we can conserve the power source, we will be fine. We will manage everything that comes with it and any damage that comes.”
Many of those in the path of the typhoon have been evacuated in recent days. Mayor Peter Carter said that in Port Hedland, from which the world’s largest wholesale export port sends Australian iron ore around the world, evacuation centers have opened for people whose homes may not weather the storm.
“Everyone is on edge,” Carter said. They understand that hurricanes are what they are. It’s very unexpected.”
Longtime Port Hedland resident Julie Aref, who has experienced several hurricanes, said she worried for those who were in Elsa’s path.
“They’d be ready and ride it outside. But it’s still very intimidating and scary,” Arif said. “When you’re inside in a house and there’s just the wind outside roaring and banging and banging and crashing. Hurricanes happen at night. You don’t know what it is and that’s scary.”
The Met Office has warned of damaging winds, heavy rain and abnormally high tides along the Pilbara coast as Elsa passes.
Many people in the Pilbara region are involved in the mining and livestock industries or tourists are taking advantage of the school holiday period which started this week.
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