Severe Tropical Cyclone Fina made landfall in Western Australia overnight, crossing the coast near Berkeley River Mouth as a category three system around 10pm.
The system quickly weakened to a category two as it moved inland and is expected to become a tropical low later today as it passes over mostly unpopulated land.
Cyclone Fina’s predicted path on Tuesday. Credit: BOM
The slow-moving cyclone is bringing with it winds of up to 100 kilometres an hour, and gusts of 140 kilometres an hour as it tracks about 110 kilometres east of Kalumburu.
Heavy and intense rainfall, and potential flash flooding, is expected in the area.
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 said.
In the NT, a major clean-up is still under way as crews work to restore power to thousands of homes and clear roads of debris after the cyclone wreaked havoc in Darwin at the weekend.
