Miners, cattle ranchers, tourists and Indigenous locals were evacuating from Australia’s remote northwest coast on Wednesday as an intensifying tropical cyclone approached.
Cyclone Ilsa is expected to peak as a Category 4 storm as it crosses the sparsely populated Pilbara coast of Western Australia state somewhere between the iron ore export town of Port Hedland in the west and the tourist town of Broome in the east late Thursday or early Friday, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said. “Any areas … where that system does cross the coast are going to experience some very destructive winds, winds in excess of 200 kph (124 mph). They’re going to cause a lot of damage,” bureau manager Todd Smith told reporters.Abnormally high tides, large waves and flooding were possible, and people should avoid coastal and low-lying areas, Smith warned. Ilsa could be the most powerful cyclone to cross the Pilbara coast since Cyclone Christine, a Category 4 storm that struck land halfway between Port Hedland and the town of Karratha to the west in December 2013.
