Australia Weather News

Tropical Cyclone Mitchell is bringing destructive winds and heavy rain as it tracks down WA's north west coast.

The category two cyclone is sitting south west of Exmouth, about 1,170 kilometres north of Perth, and heading towards Carnarvon.

The system is moving south-west at roughly 11km/h.

Department of Fire and Emergency Services Incident Controller Will Blackshaw said Carnarvon was expected to be placed under the emergency warning in the coming hours.

"The focus for DFES today will be to continue to monitor the system as it makes its way down the coast and prepare the people further south in the towns of Denham and Carnarvon for the event that's coming towards them," he said.

"We're also going to be pre-staging resources further north from Perth to be ready to respond if they're needed further north in places like Carnarvon."

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Sarah Scully said Tropical Cyclone Mitchell was slowly weakening but was expected to maintain a category two strength before crossing the coast.

"Tropical cyclone paths are notoriously difficult to forecast but at the moment the most likely path is for it to track parallel to the coast until earlier this afternoon, then it will start moving south-eastwards towards the land," she said.

"It's expected to push towards Carnarvon at around 5pm this afternoon and then crossing between Carnarvon and Wooramel Roadhouse later this evening."

Several cyclone emergency warnings are in place for Exmouth and several surrounding communities, including Ningaloo, Coral Bay and coastal islands, with residents now required to shelter in place.

Mr Blackshaw said anyone in the emergency warning zone should "shelter now".

"Anyone in the emergency warning area should be sheltering in the strongest part of the house right now," he said.

Locals bunker down

Exmouth Shire President Matthew Niikula said he could hear "lots of bangs" as the wind began to pick up overnight and tracked towards the coast.

"We've had pretty consistent wind and gusts since 1pm today," he said.

"There seems to be a pretty howling easterly coming through.

"Just before it got dark, I saw a couple of branches snap off and fly in the backyard… hopefully they're blowing away from the house and not towards it."

Horizon Power says 1650 customers are without power in the Exmouth region.

Several schools and roads in the region are closed.

Local wildlife carer Brinkley Davies described the conditions as "hectic".

"All the gums and the trees are bending sideways, and it's raining sideways," she said.

Ms Davies said she was keeping an eye on her rescue animals, including cats, dogs and a joey.

"She's asleep in her pouch in one of the rooms at the moment; she's none the wiser that there's this cyclone outside," she said.

"Then we also have nine ducks and four chickens in their own crates with blankets in the shed, stacked in nice and safe as well."

About 30 kilometres away at Yardie Homestead and Caravan Park, Les Graham said while he had experienced a category four cyclone before, conditions at the property were "ramping up".

"We have lost a few trees, and a few fence panels are starting to blow around, and a lot of branches and stuff you can hear hitting the roof," he said.

Mr Graham said while the rain had eased, the wind had not.

"I think it'll be a fair few hours to get some sleep, it's just too noisy," he said.

"Can't do much about it, just have to wait it out."

Time to prepare

Mitchell's slow progress down WA's coast left plenty of time for locals to make last-minute preparations,with many securing last-minute supplies and sandbagging their properties throughout the day on Sunday.

Carnarvon Shire President Eddie Smith said he believed the town, about 900 kilometres north of Perth, was well prepared.

"Preparation is the important part… I'm quietly confident we should be able to bear whatever comes," he said.

Mr Smith said he was concerned for Carnarvon's banana plantations.

"Those concerns are always there," he said.

"We haven't had a great start to the year with the heat events we've had, and now this, on top of those heat events, isn't really welcome.

"At category two, hopefully the damage isn't too bad."