Australia was yesterday bracing to be hit by a second powerful cyclone in two days as Cyclone Veronica bore down on the country’s northwest coast.
The storm made landfall yesterday afternoon, a day after Cyclone Trevor hit a remote part of the Northern Territory coast. Weather authorities were forecasting Veronica would hit the coast about 1,600km to the west, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia state.
While that area is also lightly populated, residents were warned that because the cyclone was moving slowly — at just 8kph — they would likely have to shelter for several hours.
Photo: AFP
A category 3 system on a scale in which 5 is the strongest, Veronica had winds of up to 220kph.
With Trevor downgraded to a tropical low pressure system as it moved inland, the more than 2,000 people evacuated from Northern Territory coastal areas in its path began moving back home.
Officials said no deaths, injuries or significant damage had been reported from Trevor, but that heavy rains were continuing and flooding was still a danger.
Australian Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster James Ashley said that Veronica was unique because of its slow speed, which would bring a long danger period.
“We are expecting a prolonged period — 12 hours or more — of destructive winds near the core of the cyclone,” Ashley said.
Veronica affected the key mining region of Pilbara in Western Australia, forcing evacuations and a halt to port operations.
Its core winds hit the coast near the mining center of Port Hedland.
The bureau said Veronica’s forward movement had stalled at about midday yesterday before its eye made landfall and was forecast to weaken to a category 1 storm overnight and then veer west along the coastline.
“Tides are likely to rise significantly above the normal high-tide mark with damaging waves and very dangerous coastal inundation,” the bureau said.
Major mining and energy companies took precautionary steps across the region, a hub of liquefied natural gas and iron-ore exports, with ports cleared of ships and non-essential staff evacuated, according to the australianminining.com.au Web site.
Australia’s western coast usually sees three or four cyclones per year and emergency services said residents were well prepared for this storm.
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