Winds from Cyclone Ilsa slammed Australia’s western coast at a record-breaking 218 km/h, which was achieved in the same location ten years ago. According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, the tropical cyclone made landfall between De Grey and Pardoo Roadhouse on Monday as a category 5 storm, the most severe one. Storms with a category 5 are seen to be extremely dangerous.
A 10-minute sustained wind speed of 218 km/h was recorded by Ilsa at Bedout Island
However, after it made landfall 140 kilometers east of Port Hedland near Pardoo Roadhouse, it was eventually reduced to a category 4 Atlantic hurricane. Finally, Sue Ellery, Western Australia’s acting minister for emergency services, declared that the storm had been further downgraded to a category 2 system.
A 10-minute sustained wind speed of 218 km/h was recorded by Ilsa at Bedout Island, which is a small island off the coast, according to the weather service. In the same area in 2007, during Cyclone George, windspeeds of 194 km/h set the previous record. As the storm, which is presently packing winds of up to 285 km/h, made its approach, inhabitants in some locations were warned to quickly take shelter. According to the Guardian newspaper, no casualties have been reported thus far.
“That is going to cause a heap of damage. Any houses that aren’t built to code are going to suffer extensive damage … Fortunately, it looks like the system is going to cross in a relatively unpopulated part of the coast,” said Todd Smith, a Bureau of Meteorology spokesman, reports Guardian.
Officials are still evaluating the harm the cyclone inflicted on Western Australia
Though they believe that the winds had the ability to seriously harm trees, buildings, electricity lines, and other infrastructure, officials are still evaluating the harm the cyclone inflicted on Western Australia. When it was safe to fly helicopters over the area, they intended to examine the damage from the air, according to CNN. The storm, according to local media accounts, missed the major population centers, including Port Hedland, a significant mining sector hub that is home to roughly 16,000 people, largely mine workers.
“The fact that the cyclone took a south-eastward shift in the track late yesterday afternoon really means that Port Hedland dodged a bullet last night. Most of the impacts as we’ve seen are further to the east, and the impacts in Port Hedland were really light with the system tracking about 150km further along the track,” Smith added.