{"id":252183,"date":"2026-01-26T07:53:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T07:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/252183\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T07:53:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T07:53:17","slug":"mercedes-cove-coastal-retreat-home-destroyed-by-tropical-cyclone-luana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/252183\/","title":{"rendered":"Mercedes Cove coastal retreat home destroyed by Tropical Cyclone Luana"},"content":{"rendered":"

The owner of a coastal retreat in Western Australia’s far north says she was heartbroken when she discovered her home had been “all but destroyed” by Tropical Cyclone Luana.<\/p>\n

Luana crossed the WA coast as a category two system on Saturday<\/a>, bringing heavy rain and damaging winds to remote communities across the Dampier Peninsula.<\/p>\n

The ex-tropical cyclone, now a tropical low, is tracking inland across the Kimberley.<\/p>\n

Pat Channing, who runs Mercedes Cove Exclusive Retreat, an Aboriginal-owned and operated business, with her husband David, was in Broome, about 160 kilometres to the south, when the cyclone crossed.<\/p>\n

The damaged property was Ms Channing’s family home at Mercedes Cove and she heard about the destruction from managers on the ground.<\/p>\n

Roof blown off<\/p>\n

These pictures show the debris, caved-in plaster and insulation foam covering the kitchen and living area.<\/p>\n

\"Debris<\/p>\n

Pat Channing says she was heartbroken when she heard the property had been destroyed. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Ms Channing said they had only recently restored the roof after ex-Tropical Cyclone Hayley, which crossed earlier this month.<\/p>\n

“Then this other cyclone ripped the roof off and dropped the ceiling in the lounge and kitchen and water damaged everything,” Ms Channing said.<\/p>\n

The Mercedes Cove managers told Ms Channing that waiting out the cyclone was “frightening and terrifying”.<\/p>\n

They were staying at another residence on the site.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Pat Channing runs Mercedes Cove Coastal Retreat with her husband David. (ABC News: Erin Parke)<\/p>\n

“The wind was horrendous, they couldn’t get out in the morning for at least 3 to 4 hours to make any assessment of the damage,” Ms Channing said.<\/p>\n

“Luckily, all our accommodation for the tourism season was not affected so that’s a plus, I suppose.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

None of the tourist accommodation at Mercedes Cove was damaged by Tropical Cyclone Luana. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Ms Channing said the house held precious memories of her family, friends and retreat guests, which would not be forgotten.<\/p>\n

“Twenty years [ago] my hubby built that and I helped where I could \u2026 we had a wonderful 20 years with our children and our grandchildren,” she said.<\/p>\n

Heavy rainfall forecast<\/p>\n

DFES Kimberley Superintendent Leon Gardiner said he was aware of structural damage to a building at Mercedes Cove.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Mercedes Cove property was hit by damaging winds and heavy rainfall. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

“DFES is on stand-by to provide assistance but emergency services support has not been requested at this time,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The damage from the cyclone crossing overnight was mainly concentrated to Derby with 12 requests for assistance on Sunday.<\/p>\n

“Mainly for fallen trees blocking access or leaning on homes.”<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Leon Gardiner advised people in affected areas to stay up to date with the latest warnings. (ABC Kimberley: Andrew Seabourne)<\/p>\n

Eucla and Goldfields on flood watch<\/p>\n

While the immediate threat from ex-Tropical Cyclone Luana had reduced, remote communities and stations remain on alert.<\/p>\n

Several flood warnings had been issued across the state, spanning from the Kimberley to the Eucla, in the southern interior.<\/p>\n

Damaging winds and rainfall up to 150mm was expected in isolated areas, with river and creek levels elevated across the Kimberley.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"map<\/p>\n

Several flood and storm warnings have been issued across Western Australia as Ex-Tropical Cyclone Luana continues to bring strong winds and heavy rain.\u00a0 (Department of Fire and Emergency Services)<\/p>\n

Kimberley Agriculture and Pastoral Company (KAPCO) general manager Greg Dakin said Myroodah Station, about 2,000 kilometres north of Perth, had become isolated.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s a given for this time of year that we\u2019re going to be cut off for certain periods of time, so everyone\u2019s pretty proactive with that,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"rising<\/p>\n

Mr Dakin said water levels at Gee Gully crossing had risen considerably due to heavy rainfall from ex-Tropical Cyclone Luana.\u00a0 (Supplied: Greg Dakin)<\/p>\n

Mr Dakin said his team were well equipped with supplies and fuel.<\/p>\n

“We’ve only got minimal crew on the station at the moment \u2026 so it’s all manageable.”<\/p>\n

The Bureau of Meteorology said 24-hour rainfall totals up until 9am Sunday surpassed 230mm in some areas, including RAAF base Curtin with 232mm, 158mm at Lombadina and 156mm at Dampier Downs airstrip.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Dakin said the cyclone brought more than 300mm of rain to the cattle station, which is located on the Fitzroy River.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s been good, steady, soaking rain so it\u2019s gone in really well.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The owner of a coastal retreat in Western Australia’s far north says she was heartbroken when she discovered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[146310,273,146312,146313,111,139,69,146311,147,146309,2987],"class_list":["post-252183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-coastal-retreat","tag-environment","tag-leon-gardiner","tag-mercedes-cove-exclusive-retreat","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-pat-channing","tag-science","tag-tropical-cyclone-luana","tag-wa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}