Cyclone Zelia as it happened: Severe Tropical Cyclone Zelia makes landfall near De Grey River mouth east of Port Hedland

Thanks for following along today. We leave you this evening with the positive news that Zelia has weakened somewhat to a category 3, with winds near the centre now 150 km/h with gusts to 205 km/h.

There are no official damage reports yet as State Emergency Service volunteers wait out the Emergency Warning remaining for Pardoo to east of Whim Creek and inland to west of Marble Bar.

But residents are posting endless photos online of uprooted trees and flooded roads, and we have an unconfirmed report of damage to a childcare centre.

At 3pm Pilbara Ports reopened the Ports of Dampier and Varanus Island.

“Pilbara Ports has undertaken inspections of navigation aids, channels and berths and has confirmed safe operations can resume,” a spokesman said.

Zelia will now take a general southerly track overland and weaken, the Bureau of Meteorology reports. Intense rainfall is expected near and to the east of the centre.

Very destructive gusts of up to 200 km/h are likely within 30 kilometres of the centre but Port Hedland lies outside this region. Gusts near the centre will reduce this afternoon and tonight.

Destructive gusts of up to 160 km/h are occurring in coastal and adjacent inland areas between Port Hedland and Pardoo, moving through inland areas near the track and possibly impacting Marble Bar for a period tonight.

Gales with damaging gusts to 120 km/h are occurring on the coast between Pardoo and Whim Creek, including Port Hedland but should ease tonight. Damaging gusts to 120 km/h should also extend to inland areas to Marble Bar later tonight and possibly to Nullagine and Munjina tomorrow morning.

Heavy to locally intense rainfall which may lead to flash flooding is occurring across coastal and adjacent inland areas between Wallal Downs and Whim Creek, extending inland to Marble Bar and Nullagine overnight.

Flood watches and warnings are also current. Check Bureau of Meteorology warnings for further details.

There is no longer a risk of a storm tide at Port Hedland. Tides to the east of Port Hedland to Wallal Downs are likely to rise above the normal high tide mark.

We’ll be back tomorrow with details of the aftermath, and if you’re in Port Hedland, please exercise all possible caution and keep up to date on www.emergency.wa.gov.au.

Premier Roger Cook downplayed climate change links to the Category 5 Cyclone Zelia at his press conference this morning but the Bureau of Meteorology suggests otherwise.

When asked about the relationship between climate change and cyclones, Cook answered: “cyclones happened during cyclone season.”

“I’ve been on this planet for 59 years now, and in this state for 59 years, and I can assure you that it’s cyclone season,” he said.

“So understand that, folks, cyclones happen during cyclone season.”

A short time later the Bureau’s general manager environmental prediction services Matthew Collopy said there was evidence that climate change was impacting cyclone intensity thanks to the warming of the atmosphere and oceans.

“The early indications are that there is not a big impact on the frequency, but there is a potential impact on intensity,” he said.

“So there is potentially a higher chance of seeing high category cyclones because of those high temperatures both the in the water as well as the atmosphere.“

Climate Analytics CEO and lead author of previous Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports Bill Hare said global warming was driving an increase in the number of the most intense tropical cyclones and increasing their intensity.

“They will become more intense, cover a larger area and spin up a lot faster,” he said.

“If human-induced warming continues because fossil fuels are not phased out, marine heat wave intensity, duration and extent will continue accelerating until much of the tropical Indian Ocean is in an almost permanent marine heatwave.

“This will only increase the frequency of these life-threatening extreme weather disasters.”

TC Zelia has been downgraded to a Category 4 cyclone, with winds near the centre now 175km/h with gusts to 250km/h.

It made landfall at 12.30pm WST near De Grey River mouth, northeast of Port Hedland and will continue to weaken.

An emergency warning remains for the region surrounding Port Hedland with the community instructed to stay indoors and in the strongest part of their building.

The streets of Port Hedland have been abandoned as residents barricade themselves inside from Cyclone Zelia.

Nine News Perth reporter Sarah Smith is on the ground as the category 5 cyclone moves through.

“We’re following the rules and staying indoors,” she said.

Flooding in the area.Credit: Candid Captures by AJ Downes

“Our crew has gaffer tapped the doors and put towels at the bottom so no water gets in – helpful advice from our cameramen that have been through cyclones before.”

Smith reported winds have increased since the morning and heavy rain had remained constant.

“We spoke with one person on Zoom who had built a mattress fort for the kids, they have food and chargers,” she said.

“People are just nervous that it is a category five but they’re saying they’ve done all they can to prepare.”

Videos posted to TikTok show bent over palm trees with many trees already ripped from the ground.

Not everyone is following the advice, some residents have posted videos to the streaming platform showing themselves outside in treacherous conditions and jumping in pools.

In breaking news, the destructive core of Tropical Cyclone Zelia is currently crossing the coast to the east of Port Hedland.

At midday, the centre of the category 5 system was around 65 kilometers to the north east of Port Hedland, and moving south east around 11km/h.

At its core, the cyclone was bringing destructive wind gusts of up to 290km/h, intense rainfall and flooding.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s General Manager Environmental Prediction Services Matthew Collopy said Port Headland was not expected to be impacted by the eye of the system, but said damaging wind gusts were still likely into the afternoon and a dangerous storm surge possible on the eastern side of the tropical cyclone track which could cause flash flooding.

“This system is producing very heavy rainfall, with rainfall totals expected to be two to 300mm over the next three to four hours, with three day totals up to 500mm possible,” he said.

“We have already recorded totals over 300mm, and this heavy rainfall falling on already wet catchments is likely to result in Flash and riverine flooding.”

Flood Watch and warning areas extend from the Gascoyne and through the Pilbara regions, with flood warnings already current for the De Grey and Pilbara coastal rivers.

The system is expected to weaken and winds will ease as the system continues to move south through the interior towards Tom Price and Paraburdoo.

“This is a very dangerous system that will cause those significant impacts,” he said.

He urged those in the Pilbara to remain informed and heed the latest advice on both the tropical cyclone and flood warnings from BOM and emergency WA.

The focus of emergency services has now shifted to dealing with the impacts of Tropical Cyclone Zelia as the system crosses the coast and makes landfall east of Port Hedland, bringing 290km/h winds and more than 500mm of rain across the Pilbara.

During a press conference this afternoon, Department of Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Darren Klemm said the cyclone was tracking further east than initially anticipated, sparing the regional town of Port Hedland from the brunt of the storm.

But Klemm urged communities impacted by the Category 5 system not to become complacent, warning hazards would not ease as the area continues to be battered by rainfall.

“We’re ready to deal with the aftermath of the cyclone, but it is critical impacted communities don’t get complacent,” he said.

“The conditions after a cyclone can be just as dangerous as the cyclone itself, including damaged buildings, fallen power lines and debris, it is extremely important that people remain indoors until the warning change on emergency WA.”

Crews have responded to 37 calls for assistance over the past two days, including a truck driver whose vehicle had been washed off a bridge.

People have been asked to desist from walking and driving around Port Hedland as a cyclone bears down upon them.

The Hedland State Emergency Service wrote online this morning a blunt warning after seeing people driving and walking around town.

“Do not drive on emergency warning. The shops are closed, the service stations are closed … don’t do it. With the cyclone just hours away you risk your life doing these things. Don’t do it to your family.”

Multiple other residents whiling away their emergency lockdown on Facebook have reported and posted videos of people walking past their homes.

“So many idiots driving around in Port,” wrote one. “Go home.”

“Seriously, stop driving around ya bloody knobheads!” said another.

Some have blamed the new system – in which as of last July, Western Australia has adopted the Australian Warning System for bushfire, cyclone, flood and storm warnings.

This means instead of emergency services using the old Blue Alert, Yellow Alert, Red Alert and All Clear warning system for cyclones, they use the same three warning levels as for bushfires: Advice, Watch and Act and Emergency Warning, with their corresponding colours of yellow, orange and red.

“Everyone knew on a Red Alert … you were confined to your home and not allowed to leave until the all clear, when the police would again go around town with their sirens going again,” one commenter wrote.

“Unlike new system where nobody knows what’s going on.“We reckon if you can’t work out that warning system you might just be a “bloody knobhead.”

A media conference with Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Darren Klemm and the Bureau of Meteorology’s General Manager Environmental Prediction Services Matthew Collopy was held to provide an update on the cyclone. Watch it back here:

Despite its regular population of 16,000 there are currently only 124 people sheltered in the Port Hedland evacuation centre at the JD Hardie Youth and Community Hub, according to Premier Roger Cook.

Speaking from Geraldton in WA’s Mid West Cook said there was a further 43 people at the evacuation centre in Karratha, which will now be spared the full brunt of TC Zelia after she began tracking east.

Cook said Zelia was “really dangerous and big and it’s one which is going to threaten the communities right across the Pilbara in particular.”

Western Australia Premier Roger Cook is preparing for the aftermath. Credit: AAP

“Our hearts go out to the people in Port Hedland today, they’ve been in lockdown since 6.30 last night, under emergency cyclone warning rating,” he said.

“This is a serious storm, and it’s one which is going to have a significant impact on the communities throughout the Pilbara.”

Cook said emergency response teams were stationed 720 kilometres south west in Carnarvon and they were ready to fly in to Port Hedland after Zelia passes through.

He said he had already had conversations with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese about deploying the defence force.

“We particularly rely on the ADF for heavy haulage, heavy lift equipment to make sure that we can get that into Port Hedland and other towns as needed. So those conversations have already taken place,” he said.

To the latest update from the Bureau of Meteorology now, with a warning that Severe Tropical Cyclone Zelia is about to make landfall near DeGrey River mouth east of Port Hedland.

Port Hedland looks likely to avoid the very destructive core of the cyclone, BOM says.

BOM has upgraded the wind gusts expected at the core of Tropical Cyclone Zelia and narrowed the central area of impact, with the cyclone set to make land fall just east of Port Hedland.

The forecast has been shifting back and forth as the cyclone moves off the coast, but the current analysis has Zelia continuing to move south and make landfall at 4pm AWST.

The bureau is confident the cyclone is now most likely to the east of Port Hedland, with wind gusts at its core having since been upgraded to 290km/h.

BOM said the area east of Port Hedland would bear the brunt of the cyclone, but said the broader area of impact was expected to span 400 kilometres along the coast between Wallal Downs and Roebourne and experience wind gusts between 120-160km/h.

The most intense impacts are expected to be felt at the time of crossing, with bands of showers and thunderstorms wrapping around the cyclone and bringing destructive winds, rain and flooding and storm tides and inundation.

BOM warned wind gusts at the core of the cyclone were likely to lead to the destruction of trees and permanent structures.

The system is likely to move south through the Pilbara and into the Gascoyne over the coming days, continuing to lose intensity as it reaches Tom Price but bringing significant rain.