Port Hedland was shut yesterday at 10:00am (local time) by the Pilbara Ports Authority – all berths and inner anchorages were cleared – as the north-west of Australia braced for the arrival of Tropical Cyclone Ilsa.
However, the Port re-opened at 11:00am (local time) today.
“Pilbara Ports Authority has undertaken inspections of navigation aids, the channel and berths and has confirmed safe operations can resume… Pilbara Ports Authority is liaising with terminal and vessel operators and stakeholders to plan the recommencement of shipping”, a statement reads.
Ilsa had been menacing the north-west coast for some time. Early morning yesterday, the Bureau of Meterology recorded gusts of up to 235 km / hour. “This is a very intense and dangerous system”, a BOM spokesperson said.
By mid-day yesterday, Bureau of Meterology advised that Ilsa was located about 245km north of Port Hedland and was mouthing in a south-southwest direction. The system was expected to – and actually did – reach category 5 intensity as it hit the Pilbara coast about 120km to the northeast of Port Hedland with sustained winds of 215km/h.
Tropical cyclones are formed in part because of high sea-surface temperatures of around 27 °C and so, when they cross land, tropic cyclones weaken eventually dissipate. At approximately 09:00am Western Standard Time, Ilsa had weakened to a category 3 storm and is forecast to continue weakening throughout the day, eventually losing cyclone status, resulting in strong gale force winds throughout the northern/central areas of Australia.
“This has been a significant weather event,” WA’s Deputy Premier Roger Cook told the ABC, adding that, “it looks like that it [Cyclone Ilsa] has spared those coastal communities, but it still represents a threat to the inland communities of the Pilbara”.
Meanwhile, on-the-ground journalists with the ABC have noted concerns that the cyclone could dump large volumes of rain that, in turn, could cause flash flooding which may damage inland infrastructure such as access roads.
