{"id":312398,"date":"2025-11-27T15:13:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T15:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/312398\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T15:13:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T15:13:14","slug":"berkeley-river-lodge-co-owner-reveals-resort-destroyed-by-tropical-cyclone-fina-is-uninsured","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/312398\/","title":{"rendered":"Berkeley River Lodge co-owner reveals resort destroyed by Tropical Cyclone Fina is uninsured"},"content":{"rendered":"

The co-owner of Berkeley River Lodge that was decimated by tropical cyclone Fina as it made landfall in the East Kimberley has revealed the remote resort was not insured.<\/p>\n

Speaking on 6PR Breakfast, Berkeley River Lodge co-owner Rachel Bromage said tropical cyclone Fina had done \u201csignificant damage\u201d to the guest villas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe (insurance) premiums just became unsustainable and at some point you have to balance the risk with viability,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe staff accommodation and the shed . . . they\u2019re not built to cyclone rating, so they\u2019re . . . not (going to) stand up . . . when you\u2019ve got winds of up to 260km\/h. That was certainly no surprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know three (guest villas) are certainly beyond repair. We\u2019re still assessing the damage . . . it\u2019s still very early days.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CycloneCamera IconCyclone Fina caused severe damage to Berkeley River Lodge in northern WA Credit: Berkely River Lodge\/Supplied<\/p>\n

The cyclone \u2014 which also lashed the Northern Territory as it crossed over at the weekend \u2014 hit the four-star resort as a category three system about 9pm on Monday, November 24.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree of the 18 villas are completely destroyed. Some of the villas have damage to their roof or exterior cladding that surrounds the open\u2013air bathrooms,\u201d Saltwater Properties owner Chris Banson said.<\/p>\n

While the guest villas bore the brunt of the damage, the central lodge and surrounding buildings were also damaged.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe central lodge area lost some exterior panelling and has some roof damage. Water and power services are no longer operating and the staff accommodation has extensive damage,\u201d Mr Banson said.<\/p>\n

He said the property\u2019s two caretakers weren\u2019t harmed by the wild weather and, with the resort closing in September, no visitors were affected by the damage.<\/p>\n

Mr Banson hoped the lodge would re-open for the 2026 season, set to begin on May 1.<\/p>\n

\"BerkeleyCamera IconBerkeley River Lodge, a four star resort which was mid-way through a huge renovation, was unrecognisable on Tuesday morning. Credit: Supplied\/Instagram<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are still assessing the full extent of the damage and the impact that this will have on the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

Our plan at this stage is to still open in May for our planned full refurbishment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Berkeley Lodge has 18 villas stretching along a section of the Kimberley coast. It has a capacity of just 36 guests and aims to offer guests an exclusive and luxury experience.<\/p>\n

The upgrades under way were set to include new interior floors, villa balcony decking, pool decking and screens around the open-air ensuites.<\/p>\n

The Bureau of Meteorology said in a statement on Tuesday the cyclone had weakened to a category one system as it moved inland.<\/p>\n

A tropical cyclone warning remains in place for the King George River mouth to Berkeley River mouth, and further east to the Cambridge Gulf. These areas may continue to experience damaging winds and heavy rain.<\/p>\n

The remnants of Fina are likely to continue to produce showers and thunderstorms for the Northern Kimberley and nearby areas of the Northern Territory throughout the rest of the week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The co-owner of Berkeley River Lodge that was decimated by tropical cyclone Fina as it made landfall in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44,45],"class_list":["post-312398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news","tag-wa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}