Cyclone Fina approaches northern West Australian coast at category four status

Residents in parts of northern Western Australia are being warned to expect damaging winds and heavy rain today, as severe Tropical Cyclone Fina moves away from the Northern Territory. 

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has issued a cyclone warning for residents from the NT-WA border to east of Kalumburu in WA.

The BOM has cancelled an earlier warning zone from Wadeye to south of Daly River mouth in the NT.

The BOM said Tropical Cyclone Fina was expected to weaken slightly but remain as a category three cyclone as it moves towards the north-east Kimberley coast on Monday.

Kalumburu is at least a 12-hour-drive to the nearest town and residents say housing is the number one issue. (Emily Jane Smith)

Preparations underway in Kalumburu

DFES Acting Kimberley Superintendent Todd Pender said additional resources including staff and equipment had been sent to Kalumburu to assist with preparations, with additional staff also sent from Perth to Kununurra. 

“They will be eyes and ears for us and they can report back through our incident controller advising what damage we’re seeing and the numbers,” he said. 

“That gives us an idea of what resources we may need to mobilise from within the region or in making a request through our state operations centre in Perth.”

Mr Pender said they were well prepared for the system, with regular meetings being held with stakeholders including police and health services since Thursday. 

He said the region was well stocked with supplies and no evacuations were planned for residents in Kalumburu. 

“Because we don’t see the threat there to the community at this stage, but we are prepared should the system move,” Mr Pender said. 

Kalumburu Aboriginal Corporation chief executive Kim Holm said while some residents were concerned, they were well prepared and community meetings were being held to discuss concerns. 

“We’ve got a few anxious people and that’s mainly around some big trees that haven’t been cleared out properly yet … the cyclone is early for this time of year,” she said. 

“Other than that a couple of mums that have got some young children, but they’re all fine it’s just about having a level of anxiousness.”

A community meeting with DFES and police is scheduled for this morning at 8am WST out the front of the Kalumburu store to provide updates for residents. 

Early cyclone impacts Kimberley preparations

The general manager of Mangalalu North Kimberley Airport (formerly known as Mangalalu-Truscott), Todd Shield, said staff had been assisting customers with relocating workers from offshore facilities over the weekend. 

He said airport staff were being moved to Broome and Kununurra, with the airport expected to close today. 

“Once we’re satisfied the storm has passed, we’ll have a skeleton crew to inspect the airport and facilities and if everything is OK they will reopen the airport to allow aircraft back in,” Mr Shield said. 

With Cyclone Fina being the earliest on record to make landfall in the NT, Mr Shield said the timing of the system had impacted preparations. 

“At this time of the year we are ramping up for cyclone season, which means we tend to bring fuel stocks, food stocks into the airport,” he said. 

Mr Shield said if the cyclone continues on it’s predicted path Mangalalu North Kimberley Airport will close and staff will be evacuated.  (Supplied: RAAF)

“We’ve only just started that process so we’re not fully prepared for it from that perspective. However we’re fine, we’re in a good place.” 

Usually parts of northern WA receive supplies via a barge from Darwin, but Mr Shields said the barge was cancelled because of the cyclone.  

“It does certainly have some impacts on us. We wouldn’t have expected a cyclone or an event like this so early in the season,” he said. 

“We will certainly be OK. At this time of year we do hold an extra two weeks of supplies on reserve on top of our normal holdings.”

Residents in affected areas are being urged to be across the cyclone warning system and ensure they are self-sufficient with cyclone kits prepared. 

“We advise people to understand what an emergency warning looks like, what a watch and act would look like, and what an advice warning looks like,” Mr Pender said. 

“As we move closer to an emergency warning, we would encourage people to make sure their supplies are sufficient, they’ve got that battery-operated radio when the power goes out, spare batteries, prescription medication, they’ve got enough food and water to last a few days.”