Pardoo Roadhouse in Western Australia's Pilbara was "wiped out" by the now former tropical cyclone Ilsa, with one of the owners saying he feels "lucky to be alive" after the category five system barrelled over the region early on Friday morning.
The roadhouse bore the brunt of the ferocious storm, which has now weakened to a tropical low.
Authorities say major centres in Western Australia's north-west — such as Port Hedland and the remote community of Bidyadanga — avoided serious damage.
There have been no reports of injuries and cyclone warnings for all communities have been cancelled.
However, the weather bureau is warning the remnants of Ilsa will continue to produce damaging winds as the low moves to the east-south-east across the central and eastern parts of the northern interior overnight before moving into the southern part of the Northern Territory on Saturday morning.
'Four hours of hell'
Will Batth recounted his night spent sheltering in a shipping container after the cyclone made landfall just after 12am WST.
Mr Batth told Nadia Mitsopoulos on ABC Radio Perth that he and his business partner Varinder had sent staff to Port Hedland ahead of the cyclone to safeguard them, but they stayed through the night.
"It was like four hours of hell," he said. "I am just lucky to be alive at the moment."
Mr Batth said they were in the the roadhouse as the roof started peeling off, before they decided to take shelter in the sea container.
"We took a chance and made the dash and I don't know how, with the adrenaline, we managed to open the sea container door and managed to hide in there."
Ilsa was 'next level'
Mr Batth said running through the wind gusts was like taking two steps forward, three steps back.
"But even the sea container, which was bolted down, that started moving, but at the moment we knew our lives were safe, but our business wasn't lucky enough."
Mr Batth says they had lived through category one and two cyclones before, but Ilsa was "next level".
In the morning, Mr Batth said they found a road sign from 10km away, blown into what remains of their roadhouse.
"There's actually nothing left, just the bare bones of the roadhouse," he said.
"All the roof is gone, everything else is gone, any accommodation dongas we had, everything's blown away, there's not even one wood pile left from them."
Months of cleaning up, financial pain
Mr Batth said a cattle truck from Pardoo Station was now "upside down" at the roadhouse.
"There's months of cleaning and at least five to six years of financial burden if we manage to open it up, which at the moment, we can't say if [that's] this year or next year."
Mr Batth has had the roadhouse for seven years and renovated it last year.
He says it is insured, but puts the damage bill from the cyclone at more than $4 million.
In a Facebook post, the Pardoo Roadhouse said the property had been "wiped out" by the cyclone, but they were all safe.
"We are all still a bit shaken and emotional to see the damage from Cyclone Ilsa. She may have wiped us out, but she can't take away our spirit."
'It was quite unnerving'
Scott Fraser, who manages the nearby Pardoo station, said he was expecting significant damage at the property, but was most worried about his 5,000 head of cattle.
He described the sound of the storm as it headed towards the station around 2:30am on Friday.
"The weather was sort of broken where we were and there was a light breeze.You could hear the cyclone roaring, it was quite unnerving actually and there was a lot of lightning," he said.
Mr Fraser suspected the water tanks on the property had "exploded from the air pressure" because a recording of stock levels had indicated they had "emptied quite suddenly".
"But I am more worried about the cattle more than anything else," he said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese earlier took to Twitter to remind people in the region to remain vigilant, despite the system continuing to weaken.
Western Australia's Acting Emergency Services Minister Sue Ellery said many larger communities escaped the worst of Ilsa.
"Fortunately, major population centres like Port Hedland and Bidyadanga were spared the worst of the cyclone and I've been told early assessments show damage is fairly minimal.
"That's a huge relief for those people living and working in that area."
Damage being assessed
West Australian Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) Commissioner Darren Klemm said damage assessments were continuing from both land and air.
DFES has contacted remote communities, mine sites and pastoral stations that have been in the path of the cyclone to check on their welfare.
Overnight, 100 people were flown out of Telfer and about 68 people spent the night in evacuation centres in Marble Bar, Nullagine and South Hedland.
The Great Northern Highway between Roebuck Roadhouse to Pippingarra Road in Port Hedland has reopened, but there may be water on the road.
The port of Port Hedland, the world's biggest iron ore export port, has reopened after evacuating all vessels ahead of the cyclone.
There is no damage to the facility, which is used by mining giants BHP, FMG, and Hancock Prospecting.
"Pilbara Ports Authority is liaising with terminal and vessel operators and stakeholders to plan the recommencement of shipping," the port said in a statement.
