Red dust blanketed Carnarvon and Shark Bay during Tropical Cyclone Narelle. Screenshot / Shark Bay Caravan Park
Western Australia’s emergency services have provided an update on the damage wrought by ex-Tropical Cyclone Narelle as the system continues to track in a southeasterly direction.
Emergency Services Minister Paul Papalia and Department of Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Darren Klemm told reporters that the tourist town of Exmouth was the worst hit.
Papalia said the system was southeast of Geraldton, in the state’s midwest region, and tracking inland on a southeasterly direction.
“Towns other than Exmouth – Coral Bay, Shark Bay, Geraldton, Kalbarri and Carnarvon township, all appear to have escaped unscathed in terms of structural damage,” he said.
“It appears as though the damage, structural damage, has been relatively minor in places like the rest of the Pilbara.
“We will be ensuring there are supports available for people as they come out of this.”
Exmouth remains largely without power, water or communication services, he said, but crews were working to restore access.
Klemm said he was hopeful road access to Exmouth would quickly be restored from the north.
“We’re really confident we’ll get the road from the north open this afternoon which will give access to Exmouth,” he said.
He told media he was aware of damage to buildings, service stations and Learmonth Airport in the coastal town, although the department was not aware of any injuries.
“We are aware of significant damage to the terminal out at Learmonth Airport which may make it difficult to use that for civil type flights … in the next few days,” he said.
Elsewhere, Klemm said the department was aware of significant damage to fruit growing plantations east of Carnarvon and a “number” of pastoral stations in the region.
Major Australian gas producers have halted operations after critical infrastructure was damaged by Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle.
Chevron and Woodside sustained damage at facilities in the cyclone’s path as it moved towards the Pilbara and Gascoyne coast as a category four system on Thursday.
A Woodside spokesman confirmed production had been interrupted by the cyclone at the Karratha gas plant, the onshore processing facility for the North West Shelf, but was still supplying gas from available capacity.
“Woodside is monitoring the progress and impact of Tropical Cyclone Narelle,” a spokesman said.
“Production at the Northwest Shelf Project is expected to recommence after Woodside is able to mobilise its workforce to its offshore facilities.”
Chevron’s Gorgon gas facility was battered by gale-force winds of about 159km/h as the system swept across Barrow Island, around 140km west of Port Dampier and home to one of Australia’s largest LNG resources on Friday.
Wheatstone personnel were demobilised from the platform before the cyclone passed, but it was being operated remotely from Perth.
A Chevron spokesman said they were working to restore production at the Gorgon and Wheatstone gas facilities following production outages.
“About 12pm on Thursday, an outage occurred at the offshore Wheatstone Platform which is located about 225km off Western Australia’s coast,” a spokesman said.
“As the platform supplies feed gas to Wheatstone’s onshore facilities near Onslow, Western Australia, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and domestic gas production has been suspended.
“We will resume full production at both facilities once it is safe to do so.”
Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle tore through Western Australia’s Gascoyne region in the state’s northwest as a category three system bringing destructive wind gusts in excess of 170km/h and widespread heavy rainfall on Friday.
Exmouth residents, about 1457km north of Perth, were forced to shelter inside their properties for hours on Friday as the cyclone bore down on the tourist town situated along the Coral Coast.
Images from Exmouth show a huge storm surge push through a canal system in a residential area, flooding homes.
The Water Corporation urged residents in Exmouth and Onslow to limit non-essential water use as crews worked to repair damaged infrastructure.
“In Exmouth, residents may experience low water pressure, with the potential for intermittent supply disruptions overnight due to a power outage affecting the town’s two borefields,” the Department of Fire and Emergency Services said.
“In Onslow, repairs are underway to damaged water mains that supply a large water storage tank, with the potential to interrupt supply.”
Emergency Management Minister Kristy McBain told ABC Weekend Breakfast there had been damage in Exmouth and Carnarvon, including an evacuation centre, but no injuries were reported.
McBain said about 2000 homes were without power, properties had been damaged and roofs blown off, with impacts to operations at Woodside and Chevron gas plants in the Pilbara.
“We do know that it will de de-intensify today towards a category tand then a one, but there is still significant wind gusts and rain that it is bringing,” she said.
“There is damage and we do have assessments currently taking place in Exmouth.”
Similar scenes were experienced further south in Carnarvon, about 1120km north of Perth, with fears banana plantations would be wiped out by the cyclone.
Banana growers in the region lost about 50% of their crops during Cyclone Mitchell and heatwaves in the recent months and were bracing for the worst.
“If the winds are as they are forecast – which at the moment is forecast to be 180-190km/h – then we would unlikely to have any bananas left standing,” Doriana Mangili told local media.
“The trees, they don’t have big root systems, so anything over 100km/h will push bananas over and then you have to sort of start again.
“Unless something miraculous happens … then we will probably have nothing left by [Saturday].”
Photos from the Carnarvon show red dust swirling through the air as winds tore through one of the state’s agricultural regions.
Virgin and Qantas cancelled dozens of flights to and from the state’s northwest on Friday.
Both airlines were closely monitoring the impact and associated weather conditions affecting large parts of Western Australia.
A Qantas spokesman advised Geraldton Airport was closed on Saturday and one flight had been cancelled.
A Virgin Australia spokesman confirmed their main line operations had not been impacted, but they were unable to operate flights to Onslow while the airport is closed.
“Safety is always our priority, and any decision to operate will be based on the latest meteorology advice,” a spokesman said.
“Guests are encouraged to check the status of their flight via the Virgin Australia app or our flight status page before travelling to the airport.”
Emergency warnings remained in place with people in the vicinity of Coral Bay, the Overlander Roadhouse on the North West Coastal Highway, Binnu and Mullewa warned there was still a threat to their lives and homes.
“Shelter indoors now. It is too late to leave,” the warning read.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services advised the cyclone was downgraded to an ex-tropical cyclone at about 5.45am local time on Saturday.
The weather system was sitting over the Gascoyne region northeast of Dongara and was weakening as it moved 41km/h in a south-southeast direction.
“It is expected to continue tracking quickly south-southeast over land while weakening further during today. Impacts will extend into the Central West, before spreading further inland and south across the South West Land Division,” a spokesman said.
Multiple roads have been closed in the state’s northwest and motorists have been asked to avoid the area.
“Conditions remain challenging; however, crews are working to complete repairs as quickly and safely as possible.”
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