Australia Weather News

Cyclone Kelvin has weakened to a category one system as it tracks inland, but arterial roads in northern Western Australia remain closed due to heavy rains and flooding.

A blue alert was issued for people from Telfer to Punmu as the system crossed the coastline at about 7:00am on Sunday, bringing wind gusts of up to 150 kilometres an hour and more heavy rainfall.

The rainfall has affected arterial roads already under deluge, with Broome having one of its wettest seasons on record.

Kirsty Foreshaw, the owner of Nita Downs Station about 220 kilometres from Broome, said the cyclone was one of the fiercest systems she has witnessed in her dozen years living in the region.

"This is probably the worst one we would have seen," she said.

"We don't see too many in the West Kimberley so it's quite unusual for it to come through us here — we don't usually see them.

"It's really noisy. It was pretty scary but only because you don't really know what's going on, and some of that was in the early hours of the morning.

"It was pretty strong … [and] it blows around that much and there is a lot of noise. Branches were hitting the roof.

"The highway is closed around Roebuck so that cuts us off from town but that's OK. We can handle it. As long as it's not cut for too long we'll be OK."

Main Roads regional manager Andrew Pyke said the Great Northern Highway was an important thoroughfare for the region.

"The great Northern Highway is basically the supply chain from North to South through the Kimberley and it's a vital link into Broome, Derby, Halls Creek in terms of logistical support carrying food for those towns," he said.

Mr Pyke said due to previous systems weakening road infrastructure repairs could take several weeks or months.

"A lot of those repairs might have actually been damaged again and there would be some new damage as well ,so I would say there's a few months of repair works for crews in both the Kimberley and the northern parts of the Pilbara," Mr Pyke said.

" Obviously if a road is under half a metre it's not really in a situation where you can be affecting even temporary repairs."

There were fears the road closures could lead to food and other essentials being unable to get through but the major supermarket Coles said it prepared early to ensure stocks were unaffected.

"We were pleased to receive our full weekend's delivery of stock to our store in Broome yesterday," a spokesperson said on Sunday.

The spokesperson said in the statement they were closely monitoring the developing situation.

"We will continue to assess the situation as it unfolds so that we can meet the needs of our customers in the region over the coming days," the spokesperson said.

Heavy rain, destructive winds continue

The Bureau of Meteorology said Tropical Cyclone Kelvin was weakening as it moved inland across the far eastern Pilbara, and would fall below cyclone strength on Monday morning.

The bureau is warning that the system is still delivering heavy rain and damaging winds, and gusts to 95 kilometres per hour are likely near the centre.

The East Pilbara Council Shire president, Lynne Craigie, who is located in Newman — more than 1,000 kilometres north of Perth — said as the cyclone moved inland road users should be aware of closures.

"The big issue for us in the inland is more the amount of water that we get and the amount of damage that does to our roads, so often we have lots of flooding on our dirt and gravel roads which can lead to washaways," Ms Craigie said.

"We've always got to be very vigilant that we're telling tourists to check whether roads are open, and if the roads are closed to obey those signs — not only tourists but locals as well.

ABC