Canberra: The nation's sparsely populated northwest coast was battered by Australia's strongest tropical cyclone in eight years on Friday, but it was quickly waning and no injuries were immediately reported.
The most powerful Category 5 storm, Cyclone Ilsa, crossed the Pilbara coast of Western Australia before quickly weakening to a Category 3 system as it moved inland, according to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.
Damage in the path of Ilsa, which made landfall in the early hours between the northeastern cattle ranch of Wallal Downs Station and 2,020-square-kilometer Port Hedland, which exports iron ore, was still being determined.
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The remote Pardoo Roadhouse and Tavern, 150 kilometres (93 miles) northeast of Port Hedland, had "extensive damage," according to Department of Fire and Emergency Services Superintendent Peter Sutton.
But there had been no assistance requests made to his department. The larger populated areas seem to have escaped the damage, according to Sutton. The roadhouse was in the direct path of the storm, according to Peter McCarthy, a superintendent for the Department of Fire and Emergency Services.
He claimed that the two owners had spent the night there and were safe. McCarthy told Australian Broadcasting Corp, "They've had a pretty uncomfortable, challenging night, and we're going to get crews out there first thing this morning to check on them."
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Dean Narramore, a government meteorologist, called Ilsa a "very intense and dangerous system" and warned that flooding could cut off inland communities.
Numerous people spent the night in an evacuation centre, according to Port Hedland Mayor Peter Carter, but the majority of the city's 16,000 residents remained inside their cyclone-resistant homes. According to Carter, who spoke to ABC, "the infrastructure is designed for cyclones, but flying debris, that's what does all of the damage."
Mean wind speeds in category 5 cyclones are greater than 200 kph (124 mph), and gusts can reach 280 kph (174 mph). Cyclone Marcia in 2015 was the most recent Category 5 storm to travel along the Australian coast. Queensland, a state on the east coast, sustained damage from Marcia totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.
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Maximum mean wind speeds for category 3 systems range from 118 kph to 159 kph (73 mph to 99 mph), with gusts reaching 165 kph to 224 kph (103 mph to 139 mph). According to the weather bureau, the storm will continue to weaken as it moves southeast across land.