Australia Weather News

A man swings in a damaged playground in Darwin after Cyclone Marcus. - ABC

Chickens were stashed in a luxury cabin and helmet-wearing home owners crawled into their bathtubs for another weekend of weather madness in Western Australia's remote north.

Tropical Cyclone Marcus became the fourth cyclone to hit the Kimberley since Christmas when it crossed the coast near Kalumburu as a category two system on Saturday.

After 24 hours of destructive wind gusts of up to 150 km/h and torrential rain, Theda Station manager Peter Adams re-emerged on Monday looking slightly windswept to assess the damage to his property.

"We lost a good 50 per cent of the trees here and the roof off the chook shed and [a few walls were] loosened up," he said.

Taking cover

As the storm passed overhead, Mr Adams and his wife Ali Moore — wearing a motorcycle helmet for protection — took shelter under support beams.

"We tried to stay in the safest places … under the biggest beam you can find."

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services said there were no reports of injuries or widespread damage but not everyone escaped unscathed.

The biggest casualties on Mr Adams' property were several large African Mahogany trees — one of which fell within a few metres of the homestead.

"The massive trees are all around the house only half a dozen steps from the front door, but lucky they fell the right way and didn't flatten the house," Mr Adams said.

Remote tourism operators had been preparing for the incoming weather for some days.

For Tub, from Kimberley Coastal Camp, that meant rounding up the resident chicken flock to stop them flying away on the breeze.

"It did look rather humorous yesterday when we were doing our cyclone preparation trying to catch the chooks inside the chook pen and shift them to one of the units," he said.

Residents brace for more

Remote tourism operator Brett Aveyard from Outback Safaris Camp was forced to huddle in a storeroom with his chef as the wind picked up.

"We sheltered in the kitchen and the storeroom. It was still pretty strong winds — it sounded like a train was going past for a while," Mr Aveyard said.

"All our shutters on our restaurant and windows in the restaurant were all shaking. It was pretty full on. We were sheltered most of the night."

Campground caretaker Matt Flinders watched the system roll in north of Kalumburu on Sunday afternoon.

"It's pretty incredible — I haven't seen anything like it. The wind's pretty severe, it was blowing me sideways and I had trouble keeping my feet," he said.

"It's like, I kid you not, horizontal rain."

Weather-worn residents are now turning their attention to another tropical low building off the Northern Territory coast expected to approach Western Australia later this week.

ABC