Communities batten down as cyclone hits WA

By. AARON BUNCH  and ALLANAH SCIBERRAS

Residents in the tiny Indigenous community of Kalumburu have battened down their homes as tropical cyclone Fina barrels towards them.

The  cyclone is expected to ease on Tuesday after downing trees and cutting power to thousands as it tore through the Northern Territory before crossing the coast into Western Australia overnight.

Winds gusts in excess of 170 km/h battered parts the Kimberley region as the category three storm crossed the coast near the Berkeley River Mouth before weakening into a category two system.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Fina now moving slowly over land and weakening but still causing very destructive winds and heavy rain near the northeast Kimberley coast.

“This is a mostly unpopulated stretch of coastline,” a Bureau of Meteorology spokeswoman said.

“Once it crosses over the coast … it will weaken quite rapidly.

“It is also expected to dry out quite quickly; we are not expecting the heavy rainfall from the coastal areas to translate to inland areas (in WA).”

Fina was expected to pass the tiny community of Kalumburu, about 550m northwest of Kununurra, as a tropical low on Tuesday, but could still pack damaging winds and dump heavy rainfall.

It’s slow-moving, with a warning for damaging winds of up to 120km/h along the coast between King George River Mouth and the WA/NT border, extending into inland areas east of Kalumburu.

Kalumburu Aboriginal Corporation chief executive Kim Holm said the community of about 400 people had been hard at work preparing properties ahead of the storm’s arrival.

“We cleaned everything up, made sure we’ve strapped everything down, and we’ve all got a little bit of extra spare food with a torch, just in case the power goes out,” she told AAP.

Tropical cyclone Fina felled trees across Darwin and the Tiwi Islands. (Lloyd Jones/AAP PHOTOS)

Residents were relieved Fina, which reached category four strength on Monday, had lost intensity and would pass to the south of the community, she said.

“There was a little cheer of happiness (from residents) that it’s just going to be a nice little Kimberley storm,” she said.

Wyndham could also be hit with heavy rain as the weather system passes to the west of the town of about 900 people.

In the NT, a major clean-up is under way as crews work to restore power to thousands of homes and clear roads of debris.

The Tiwi Islands, north of Darwin, were also hit hard, with power cut to many communities and trees felled.

AAP