Thousands of people have been ordered to take shelter as Australia’s northwest region braces for its most powerful tropical cyclone in a decade.
Cyclone Ilsa, located about 96 miles off Australia’s coast in the Indian Ocean, was on Thursday afternoon upgraded to a category five storm – the highest rating.
The storm is expected to make landfall late on Thursday or early on Friday local time, with winds of up to 196mph at its core, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
The weather bureau issued a red alert for Port Hedland on Thursday afternoon.
Its 15,000 residents, most of whom are mining company employees, were advised to seek shelter indoors and to stay away from doors and windows.
The town’s port – the biggest iron ore export point in the world – was closed on Thursday morning, while residents rushed to stock up on essential supplies.
Meteorologist Miriam Bradbury told ABC television cyclones such as Isla have “got a lot of strength in them, the ability to not only destroy trees and knock down power lines but lift up those loose items in the yard, including trailers and caravans.”
The weather bureau said in its latest update that Ilsa could impact a 600km sparsely populated stretch from just north of Port Hedland eastwards to just south of tourist town Broome.
It will be the strongest system to hit the country’s far northwest region since Cyclone Christine crossed the coast in December 2013, weather bureau forecaster Jessica Lingard said.
BHP Group, an iron ore company that uses Port Hedland port, said it was closely tracking the cyclone but its mining and rail operations were continuing.
A spokesperson for Fortescue Metals Group Ltd, which also uses the port, said the firm suspended shipping operations and non-essential travel to the port but it did not expect any significant impact to operations at this stage.
Some shelves in supermarkets have been stripped bare, local media reported, with essential supplies like bottled water, fruit and meat in huge demand.
The storm is expected to weaken below tropical cyclone strength over Friday night as it moves inland.
