Cyclone Fina approaches northern West Australian coast at category four status

Residents in parts of northern Western Australia are being warned to expect damaging winds and heavy rain today, as severe Tropical Cyclone Fina moves away from the Northern Territory.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has issued a cyclone warning for residents from the NT–WA border to east of Kalumburu in WA.

BOM said Tropical Cyclone Fina was expected to weaken slightly but remain as a category three cyclone as it moves towards the north-east Kimberley coast on Monday.

"The very destructive core of severe tropical cyclone Fina is forecast to cross the coast most likely between King George River Mouth and Berkeley River Mouth late afternoon or evening," BOM said on Monday morning.

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services WA (DFES) is warning residents between Cambridge Gulf and north of Berkeley River Lodge to shelter indoors now.

Preparations underway

DFES Acting Kimberley Superintendent Todd Pender said fortunately the cyclone warning zone was a sparsely populated area.

"We've actually been in contact with the people out there, there are four people out there," he said.

"They're aware of what's about to occur, what they're about to experience, fortunately they've made informed decisions to stay where they are … they've got underground bunkers they can hunker down in, so they can wait for the passage of the system."

Senior meteorologist with the BOM, Caroline Crow, said while Kalumburu was no longer in the cyclone warning zone, residents were still expected to experience some strong winds.

"As the system does move closer to Kalumburu, we can expect those winds to start to increase. However those stronger winds associated with the system are expected to stay a little further north east," she said.

Mr Pender said additional resources, including staff and equipment, had been sent to Kalumburu to assist with preparations, with additional staff also sent from Perth to Kununurra.

"They will be eyes and ears for us, and they can report back through our incident controller advising what damage we're seeing and the numbers," he said.

Mr Pender said they were well prepared for the system, with regular meetings being held with stakeholders, including police and health services, since Thursday.

He said the region was well stocked with supplies and no evacuations were planned for residents in Kalumburu.

"We don't see the threat there to the community at this stage, but we are prepared should the system move," Mr Pender said.

Kalumburu Aboriginal Corporation chief executive Kim Holm said while some residents were concerned, they were well prepared and community meetings were being held to discuss concerns.

"We've got a few anxious people and that's mainly around some big trees that haven't been cleared out properly yet … the cyclone is early for this time of year," she said.

"Other than that, a couple of mums that have got some young children, but they're all fine. It's just about having a level of anxiousness."

A community meeting with DFES and police is scheduled for this morning at 8am WST out the front of the Kalumburu store to provide updates for residents.

Early cyclone impacts Kimberley preparations

The general manager of Mangalalu North Kimberley Airport (formerly known as Mangalalu-Truscott), Todd Shield, said staff had been assisting customers with relocating workers from offshore facilities over the weekend.

He said airport staff were being moved to Broome and Kununurra, with the airport expected to close today.

"Once we're satisfied the storm has passed, we'll have a skeleton crew to inspect the airport and facilities, and if everything is OK, they will reopen the airport to allow aircraft back in," Mr Shield said.

With Cyclone Fina being the earliest on record to make landfall in the NT, Mr Shield said the timing of the system had impacted preparations.

"At this time of the year, we are ramping up for cyclone season, which means we tend to bring fuel stocks, food stocks into the airport," he said.

"We've only just started that process, so we're not fully prepared for it from that perspective. However, we're fine, we're in a good place."

Usually, parts of northern WA receive supplies via a barge from Darwin, but Mr Shield said the barge was cancelled because of the cyclone.

"It does certainly have some impacts on us. We wouldn't have expected a cyclone or an event like this so early in the season," he said.

"We will certainly be OK. At this time of year, we do hold an extra two weeks of supplies on reserve on top of our normal holdings."

Residents in affected areas are being urged to be across the cyclone warning system and ensure they are self-sufficient with cyclone kits prepared.

"We advise people to understand what an emergency warning looks like, what a watch and act would look like, and what an advice warning looks like," Mr Pender said.

"As we move closer to an emergency warning, we would encourage people to make sure their supplies are sufficient, they've got that battery-operated radio when the power goes out, spare batteries, prescription medication, they've got enough food and water to last a few days."

Station welcoming the rain

Doongan and Theda station manager Cecilia Myers said she was keeping a close eye on the forecast as the cyclone was likely to impact the properties.

Ms Myers said they had been putting away loose objects in preparation.

She said she would welcome a bit of extra rain after battling through bushfires over the last few months.

"We'll all just wait and see what happens over the next few days," she said.

"If there's 50 to 100mm coming over the next five days or so, that would be terrific."