KALGOORLIE - The mining city of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia was last night braced for flooding as the tail-end of the country's worst tropical cyclone worked its way inland.
Cyclone Vance, which yesterday devastated the towns of Exmouth and Onslow on the state's northwestern tip, produced the highest wind speed recorded
on mainland Australia - 267 km/h - as it hit Learmonth, 38km south of Exmouth on Monday.
Emergency meetings have begun to tackle a huge repair job after the cyclone destroyed more than 100 homes, leaving another 225 badly damaged.
Damage could run into the tens of millions of dollars, said the Insurance Council of Australia.
A spokesman for Exmouth Shire Council, Kerry Graham, said yesterday the town was a mess - "pretty much like a bomb hit it."
Among the biggest problems facing the town include restoring power and water and finding accommodation for people left homeless.
The Air Force was last night flying generators to the area to power essential services.
Mick Harvey, of the Middalya Station, south of Exmouth, said the force of the winds was terrifying.
He told ABC radio he had lost his homestead and outbuildings, and his family were sheltering in a makeshift cottage.
They had been forced to huddle under beds when the cyclone hit about 4 pm on Monday and then struck again after a lull.
"The main homestead looked as though an atomic bomb had hit it - just blown it apart with all the roof gone and that sort of thing," he said.
Cyclone Vance yesterday continued dumping heavy rain on farming and mining communities as it moved inland towards the goldfields.
Prime Minister John Howard offered federal Government assistance as locals reported scenes of utter devastation.
State Emergency Service spokesman Doug Bathgate said the damage in Exmouth reminded him of pictures of Cyclone Tracey, which destroyed Darwin in 1974.
"We've got boats in the middle of streets and poles bent straight over, some roads are inaccessible, there's trees and rubble all over the place - it's quite incredible."
Several main highways in the southwest corner of Western Australia were closed by flooding.
It is expected to be at least several days before residents of the wheatbelt town of Moora are encouraged to return home.
More than 200 people remain in the town but hundreds of others shifted to escape rising floodwaters.
The bad weather was expected to move out over the Great Australian Bight early today. - NZPA
