Foreign News
Cyclone Ilsa hits Western Australia
BBC reported that a powerful storm has made landfall on the northern coast of Western Australia (WA).
Severe Tropical Cyclone Ilsa crossed the coast near Port Hedland just before midnight (17:00 BST) on Thursday as a category five storm. It has since been downgraded to category three but still has the potential to cause significant damage. Ilsa is expected to stay as a tropical cyclone during Friday before weakening overnight into Saturday.
Hours before it made a land, a red alert was issued – with thousands of people ordered to take immediate shelter. It is the country’s most serious cyclone alert level. Under it, people are told to remain in the strongest, safest part of their homes and to stay away from doors and windows until they are given the all clear by authorities.
While northern Australia is no stranger to cyclones, this storm is the strongest to hit the region in 14 years.
The “very destructive core” of the storm will bring “extreme” wind gusts of up to 315km/h (195mph) in parts of the Kimberley and Pilbara regions, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said.
The previous record was 194km/h – winds that were recorded when Cyclone George hit Australia in 2007.
“There is a threat to lives and homes. You are in danger and need to act immediately,” the Department of Fire and Emergency Services said, when the red alert was issued on Thursday afternoon, local time.
Residents, including some 15,000 people in Port Hedland, the world’s biggest iron ore exporting port, have been placed under the red alert. Port Hedland Mayor Peter Carter said evacuation centres had been set up in the town.
“Everyone is on edge,” Carter has told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “They understand that cyclones are what they are. They’re very, very unpredictable.”