Laurence blasts Pilbara with 285 km/h gusts (154 Knots)
Posted by JAC on 12/23/2009, 8:09 am


Wallal Station took the full brunt of the category five storm (Aussie Scale)

UPDATE 1PM: Cyclone Laurence destroyed buildings, flattened trees, burst water tanks and ripped roofs off houses but has now lost its fury and been downgraded to below cyclone intensity.

Overnight the cyclone weakened as it tracked towards central Australia but residents were still being warned to expect flooding from heavy rain this morning.

The tropical cyclone crossed the coast about 5pm on Monday near Wallal Station, about 1800km north of Perth, which together with Eighty Mile Beach Caravan Park and Mandora Station bore the worst of the onslaught.

At 11am ex-tropical Cyclone Laurence was 265km west of Giles and 185km north, north-west of Warburton. It is moving east, south-east at 30km/h.

The Bureau of Meteorology said winds were recorded at 211km/h at Mandora station but estimated gusts - which were so strong they overturned trucks - could have reached up to 285km/hr at cyclone's peak.

Even though Laurence has weakened below tropical cyclone intensity, wind gusts of up to 100km/h are possible in Giles, Warburton and surrounding areas this afternoon and this evening.

State Emergency Service Hedland manager Derek Jones said all survivors were rattled but in good spirits as they began the clean-up today.

He said Eighty Mile Beach Caravan Park had been "wiped out" with the cafeteria, where eight people had sheltered during the storm, the only building left standing.

"There was significant damage, but they've got a house to live in and food to eat and power is being sorted out ... as we speak," he said.

Tales of survival were being told yesterday as families emerged from shelters and surveyed the damage.

One family spent the night in the cab of their truck parked inside a shed until 6am yesterday morning, while others sheltered in the sturdiest buildings on their property.

Sarah Edmunds, 17, from Mandora Station, said her parents Peter and Polly and six-year-old brother Roger spent the night in their truck parked inside a shed as the storm raged around them.

Wallal Station manager Garry Schubert said four people sheltered at the homestead and described an eerie silence for 45 minutes as the eye of the cyclone passed overhead.

He said his power station, shearing quarters, air-conditioners on the side of the house and satellite dishes were all blown away in 285km/hr winds.

Karina Turner, whose father owns the Sandfire Roadhouse, 30km south of Eighty Mile Beach, said yesterday the ferocity and noise of the cyclone was frightening as its 250km/h winds lashed the roadhouse and surrounding buildings.

An estimated 600 head of dead cattle, some horses and countless kangaroos were strewn across the landscape while motherless calves were wandering around after the cyclone showed no mercy to the thousands of livestock across pastoral stations.

Carcasses dotted the beach from Wallal Station to Eighty Mile Beach and across the region, with some stuck in mud while others gathered around burst water tanks looking for food.

Rain gauges recorded 249mm at Mandora Station, while Warrawagine received 244mm and Yarrie Station received 140mm.

Motorists are advised Ripon Hills Road is closed to all vehicles.

Marble Bar Road from Nullagine to the Jigalong turnoff then to the end of the gravel section, 17 kilometres north of Newman, is closed to trucks.


Fuel is now available at Sandfire Roadhouse on Great Northern Highway.

A flood warning was issued for the De Grey River catchment. Central Australian towns, including Alice Springs, have been warned to brace for some heavy rain falls in the next couple of days.



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TC Laurence - Round 2 - JAC, 12/19/2009, 6:37 pm
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