A severe tropical cyclone is heading for the north-west coast of Western Australia, with heavy rain and wild wind gusts expected despite the storm being downgraded to a category one system.
Overnight, Tropical Cyclone Mitchell uprooted trees and street signs as it passed Exmouth, with 56mm of rain hitting the popular tourist town over the past 24 hours.
The system is forecast to move towards Carnarvon on Monday, where it will make landfall, around 2pm, and is expected to result in abnormally high tides.
Emergency warnings remain in place between Coral Bay and Minilya Roadhouse, and north of Ningaloo, with residents warned it is now too late to leave and that they should take shelter.
There is also an emergency warning in place for south of Minilya Roadhouse to north of Wooramel Roadhouse, including Carnarvon.
Evacuation centres have been set up at Carnarvon PCYC and the Shark Bay Recreation Centre.
Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Joey Rawson said the cyclone was moving parallel to the coast and was bringing wind gusts of around 90 kilometres per hour.
“The storm is weakening which is great news for those living in the region, but we would urge the community to keep up to date on the latest changes,” he said.
“As the storm moves inland it could continue to bring heavy rainfall – between 100 and 150 millimetres along the west Gascoyne coast, likely in isolated falls, before heading towards the Central Wheatbelt.”
Flood warnings remain in place across the area, with Rawson saying the coastal flooding would “flush out quickly”, while the rivers were being monitored.
There is potential for flooding across the Great Northern Highway and other major roads, which could block access to some of the regional towns.
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