Australia Weather News

Heavy rain and strong winds are expected along the northern West Australian coast as ex-Tropical Cyclone Narelle moves west, with the potential for it to re-intensify into a cyclone by Wednesday. 

The system was downgraded to a tropical low after crossing the Northern Territory's east coast at the weekend, but the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said it was likely to redevelop in the Indian Ocean later in the week. 

This could impact WA's Pilbara and Midwest coastlines, with a re-energised cyclone potentially reaching category four status.

The low is over the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf, near the WA/NT border, moving west at 16 kilometres per hour. 

BOM has issued a watch zone across the Kimberley from Beagle Bay to south-west of Mitchell Plateau, with a warning zone in place between Mitchell Plateau and the WA/NT border.

Duty forecaster Luke Huntington said gales with wind gusts to 100km/h were expected today and tomorrow.  

"While we're not expecting it to develop into a tropical cyclone when it does move into that north-east Kimberley, there could be gale force winds as it goes through," he said. 

Mr Huntington also said the region could receive up to 200 millimetres of rain, resulting in flash flooding. 

"Definitely don't drive through floodwaters if you do see significant flooding in the area," he said.

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services said it was monitoring the situation and liaising with remote communities and tourism operators to ensure they were prepared.

"We are well-positioned with extra caches of equipment and the ability to bring in personnel from other regions if needed," a spokesperson said. 

Remote community well prepared 

Kalumburu, WA's northernmost settlement, is in the warning area and can expect to be affected by the tropical low as it passes through today.  

Community chief executive Kim Holm said residents were well prepared.

"We've had a couple of floods already this year and we've put all of those standard preparations into place," she said. 

She said her region had sandy soils.

"So it [rain] drops through the soil and through the earth quite quickly and washes away very quickly," she said.

Ms Holm said the barge that brought food supplies for the community from Darwin had been delayed but she had no food security concerns. 

"We will get low on things like fresh milk and fruit and vegetables, but there are plenty of canned and packaged varieties available that you can make do with until the fresh stuff arrives," she said. 

Likely to regain strength 

The BOM said Ex-Tropical Cyclone Narelle was forecast to move offshore and had a high chance of redeveloping into a tropical cyclone by Wednesday morning. 

Mr Huntington said there was a lot of uncertainty around what the system would do later in the week. 

"It possibly could recurve back towards the west coast," he said.

"It's a long way out, but it's certainly a possible scenario that it could cross the west coast next weekend."