Tropical Cyclone Narelle was again intensifying into a severe storm off Western Australia\u2019s Kimberley coast on Wednesday with communities in the state\u2019s world heritage-listed Shark Bay preparing for a potential direct hit on Friday night.<\/p>\n
Narelle had made a rare trip for a cyclone system<\/a> by forming in the Coral Sea off Queensland and maintaining structure all the way west to the Indian Ocean, where it was expected to build into a major category four system.<\/p>\n The system smashed Cape York last week, before rebuilding over the Gulf of Carpentaria and moving over the Top End where communities were still recovering from major flooding.<\/p>\n Rainfall from Narelle\u2019s back end was still affecting the Northern Territory<\/a> on Wednesday afternoon, with the Bureau of Meteorology warning of major flooding in Katherine and also at Daly River.<\/p>\n The expected route of Tropical Cyclone Narelle as of Wednesday afternoon. Illustration: Bureau of Meteorology<\/p>\n Jenny Sturrock, a senior forecaster at the BoM, said Narelle would be a severe category 3 system by Thursday morning and by Friday would probably build to category 4 as it goes south past the Ningaloo coast.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s close agreement among the models on the corridor we expect Narelle to take,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Even though the cyclone appeared to be well offshore, wind gusts of more than 125km\/h were still possible along the coast as the cyclone made its way south.<\/p>\n The bureau\u2019s current forecast has Narelle making landfall after 8pm local time on Friday as a severe category 3 storm over the tourism town of Denham in the world heritage-listed Shark Bay.<\/p>\n Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n Peter Stubberfield, a councillor and president of the Shire of Shark Bay council, said the town was \u201cpretty apprehensive\u201d for what could be coming.<\/p>\n The closest major centre to Denham, which has a population of about 700 but can swell to thousands with tourists, is more than four hours away in Geraldton.<\/p>\n Caravan parks were evacuating, he said, and travellers were being advised to leave the town and head south \u201cand don\u2019t stop at Geraldton\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n Denham had no permanent medical services aside from a nursing station, with no doctors or hospital, Stubberfield said.<\/p>\n Shark Bay was placed on the world heritage list in 1991 for its \u201cexceptional natural features\u201d, including vast seagrass beds, dugongs and its colonies of stromatolites \u2013 which are some of the earliest life forms on the planet.<\/p>\n Narelle would be the region\u2019s second cyclone in the last two months, after Mitchell clipped the town in early February<\/a> as a weakening category 1 system.<\/p>\n \u201cBut this is a different beast to cyclone Mitchell,\u201d he said. \u201cThe town is getting prepared and the emergency centre is being prepared.\u201d<\/p>\n After making landfall, forecasts show Narelle could travel south-east and close to the city of Geraldton on Saturday.<\/p>\n Narelle will have travelled more than 5,500km by the time it approaches Perth. Earlier this week, some forecasts suggested the state capital could be in the path of the system.<\/p>\n