TROPICAL Cyclone Rusty is sitting menacingly over the Pilbara, bringing extremely heavy rainfall and very dangerous winds to a vast swathe of the West Australian coast.
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a red alert cyclone warning for coastal areas from Bidyadanga to Mardie including Port Hedland, Karratha and Dampier, and adjacent inland areas of the Pilbara, including Marble Bar, Nullagine and Millstream.
The red alert means people should go to shelter immediately.
The Bureau of Meteorology says people in Pilbara region towns between Pardoo and Whim Creek, including Port Hedland and South Hedland, should remain indoors.
Wind gusts of more than 165km/h are predicted in the area as the cyclone approaches the coast, the bureau says.
At 2am (WST) this morning, the category 3 storm was barely moving, loitering some 125km north-northeast of Port Hedland and 285km northeast of Karratha.
The Bureau warns the slow motion and large size of Rusty means very destructive winds will hit the WA coast well before the eye of the storm.
Port Hedland has already experienced gusts up to 120km/h per hour, with conditions set to worsen slowly throughout Wednesday.
Gale force winds will rip along the coast between Sandfire Roadhouse and Whim Creek, with the destructive winds extending from near Port Hedland to around Wallal.
The Bureau is warning of very destructive winds of up to 165 km/h between Whim Creek and Pardoo.
Those in communities between Wallal and Pardoo, extending inland to Marble Bar, are on yellow alert, with a warning to take action and prepare to shelter.
Rusty's massive size and slow movement is also set to unleash rain causing major flooding in the De Grey catchment and significant flooding in the Fortescue catchment as well as in Pilbara coastal streams.
The Bureau of Meteorology predicts the system to intensify to a Category 4 system, equal to Cyclone Tracy which obliterated Darwin, witn the next 24 hours before the eye of the storm crosses the coast today.
Severe Tropical Cyclone Rusty's intensity, size and slow movement is also likely to lead to a very dangerous storm tide as the cyclone centre nears the coast.
NASA's Terra satellite has taken images from space of Rusty as it approaches the coast, with satellite data reporting the storm developing an eye 20 nautical miles wide.
RED ALERT: Tropical Cyclone Rusty has intensified to a category three storm with 195km/h winds at its centre and is bearing down on the Pilbara coast. Picture: Geoff Pritchard
While Port Hedland and South Hedland residents have been urged to leave their homes, the shire's deputy mayor, George Daccache, is bunkering down in his security screen-clad home.
A Port Hedland resident of 40 years, Mr Daccache has seen his fair share of wet season wild weather, but expects this cyclone will be one of the worst the town has ever seen.
“If something hits you at 150km/h, you’re going to feel it,” he said.
"This one's a bit of a beauty.''
With residents heeding warnings to stay safe, the streets are empty, as are supermarket shelves after a rush to prepare for Rusty's arrival.
"It's going to be a pain waiting for two to three days for this to come and go,'' Mr Daccache said.
"We've just to hang in there hour by hour, and batten down the hatches.''
Mr Daccache said he was most concerned about an expected storm tide, which threatens to inundate the lower-lying western part of the town.
Many homes had lost power, but most residents were staying at emergency shelters.
RED ALERT: Tropical Cyclone Rusty has intensified to a category three storm with 195km/h winds at its centre and is bearing down on the Pilbara coast. Picture: Geoff Pritchard
RED ALERT: Tropical Cyclone Rusty has intensified to a category three storm with 195km/h winds at its centre and is bearing down on the Pilbara coast. Picture: Geoff Pritchard
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