Darwin drenched by Cyclone Laurence
Posted by
JAC on 12/13/2009, 12:21 pm
Communities along West Australia's north coast have been put on alert as the first cyclone of the season bears down on the Kimberley.
Category 1 storm, Cyclone Laurence, formed on Sunday and was 15 kilometres north northeast of Kalumburu and 465 kilometres northeast of Kuri Bay and moving west northwest at 15 kilometres per hour at 5pm (WST) on Sunday.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) said 250 millimetres fell in Darwin in the 24 hours to 9am (CST), three millimetres more than the average for December.
The rain and a king tide flooded the city, with half a metre of water over western suburbs including Ludmilla, Coconut Grove, The Gardens and The Wharf Precinct.
The storm also brought down trees and power lines.
Electricity was cut for about three hours across most of the city, from 2pm to 5pm.
Police Superintendent Bruce Porter told AAP Stuart Park, Parap, Larrakeyah, Marrara, Humpty Doo and Herbert were without power.
The BoM said the cyclone was now travelling west and communities along West Australia's Kimberley coast could be hit by winds of up to 130 kilometres an hour on Monday.
A cyclone warning has been issued for Wyndham to Kuri Bay.
Further west, a cyclone watch has been issued for coastal communities from Kuri Bay to west of Cape Leveque.
Heavy rain is expected to cause localised flooding across the region on Monday and Tuesday if the cyclone moves closer to the coast.
In BoM's seasonal outlook issued in October, two cyclones were predicted to make landfall in the region this season.
© 2009 AAP
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