‘Too late to leave’: Tropical Cyclone Zelia accelerates towards WA coast, bringing winds up to 290km/h | Australia weather

The “extremely damaging” category five Tropical Cyclone Zelia has intensified its speed towards the Western Australian coastline, with the weather bureau warning it may bring 290km/h winds and that it is now too late to leave.

The system expanded over Thursday night, with the cyclone stretching to Wallal Downs along the coast, and inland through to Tom Price and Newman.

It has also begun to move faster, with the system expected to make landfall earlier than expected – at around 3-4pm on Friday.

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a series of severe weather warnings for the region, warning of very destructive wind gusts that could reach up to 300km/h.

Angus Hines, a meteorologist at the bureau, said the system was expected to be very damaging, adding that it “does not get any worse.”

“It is a category five system – just a reminder, category five is the top of the scale. It does not get any worse than that, extremely damaging and destructive winds, widespread, rain, flooding and storm surge are all expected.”

The system is also due to cross east of Port Hedland, not west as was expected on Thursday.

“It is currently moving slowly in the south-eastwards direction. It is sitting around about 100 kilometres north of Port Hedland. But that number is shrinking as this system is getting closer to the coast every hour,” Hines said.

“We’re expecting destructive winds near the crossing point, we could see wind gusts of 300km/h. It’s hard to fathom how strong that is, but it can take out trees power lines and completely destroy properties and houses.”

Port Hedland local Glen Bedford, a mechanical technical officer at BHP’s port operations, said the sky had been dark now for more than two days.

He said he remained hauled up in his home, with a toilet that has flooded through the LED light in the ceiling as 90km/h winds hit.

“The shops are empty, all water is gone, canned goods are gone and there is always a line at the bottle shop before a cyclone,” Bedford said.

“Everyone is now locked in their house, no one is allowed out on the streets and I think you get a fine if you get caught out driving around.”

“My neighbour’s tree is down already.”

The bureau warned that heavy to locally intense rainfall which may lead to flash flooding is likely across the region, with flood watches and warnings current for catchments in the Pilbara, western Kimberley and northern Gascoyne.

Up to 500mm of rain is expected to inundate the area, with 90mm of rain having already fallen on Wallal Downs in the past 24 hours.

Residents in Port Hedland and east to Wallal Downs are specifically warned of the potential of a dangerous storm tide as the cyclone centre crosses the coast, with tides likely to rise significantly above the normal high-tide mark, and damaging waves and dangerous flooding of some low-lying areas close to the shoreline.

WA’s Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) issued a warning on Friday morning advising residents between Pardoo and Whim Creek to shelter indoors immediately.

“There is a threat to lives and homes. You are in danger and need to act immediately,” it said in a warning posted to Facebook.

“Shelter indoors now. It is too late to leave. Stay in the strongest, safest part of the building. Stay away from doors and windows, and keep them closed.”

The Department of Communities has opened evacuation centres in South Hedland, and Stove Hill, where people are being encouraged to bring bedding such as pillows and blankets if possible.

It comes as major roads across the area have been closed due to rising flood waters, including Port Hedland Road, parts of the Great Northern Highway, Marble Bar Road and Ripon Hills Road.

The DFES has dedicated incident management teams in the Pilbara and Kimberley who are working with local communities, stakeholders, retail suppliers and transporters to plan for resupply if needed.

More than 10,000 sandbags have been handed out in the Pilbara to help people prepare their properties, with extra personnel sent to the region to prepare for the system.

Twenty-one schools in the region have been closed, including Baller primary school, Hedland senior high school, Karratha primary school and Port Hedland primary school.

On Thursday the WA premier, Roger Cook, said Zelia was “going to be a big one”.

“This is a dangerous system. It’s big, it’s strong and it’s very unpredictable,” he said. “People in the Pilbara need to be prepared, and they need to be prepared now.”