Cyclone Narelle live updates: Monster storm downgraded as WA locals emerge to assess damage

Countless videos have popped up across social media of residents sharing the destruction that ex-tropical cyclone Narelle has dealt.

With TikTok’s showing houses ruined and backyards torn up in terrifying scenes.

While the worst is over in the state’s north, the aftermath will be felt for weeks, if not months, as locals restore the destruction.

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Crews have been working hard to get roads reopened after cyclone Narelle caused significant damage across the State.

Main Roads WA are currently undertaking road network inspections and have now reopened roads near Gingin, Carnarvon, and Geraldton.

However, the roads remain closed north of Carnarvon, which is shutting off Coral Bay and Exmouth.

The following roads have now been reopened:

• Brand Highway from Gingin Brook Road, Gingin to Jurien East Road.
• Brand Highway from Midlands Road, Gingin to Geraldton.
• Geraldton–Mount Magnet Road from Geraldton to Mullewa.
• Indian Ocean Drive northbound from Ocean Place to Jurien Bay.
• Midlands Road from Three Springs to Brand Highway.
• Monkey Mia Road from Denham to Monkey Mia.
• Mullewa Wubin Road from Morawa to Mullewa.
• North West Coastal Highway-Carnarvon Townsite to Ajana Kalbarri Road.
• North West Coastal Highway-Carnarvon from Eliza Shore Drive to Ajana Kalbarri Road.
• Shark Bay Road From North West Coastal Highway to Denham.

A number of roads remain closed including:

• Brand Highway from Jurien East Road to Midlands.
• Burkett Road from Minilya Exmouth Road intersection to North West Coastal Highway.
• Coral Bay Road from Minilya Exmouth Road intersection to Coral Bay.
• Geraldton–Mount Magnet Road from Mullewa to Great Northern Highway.
• Great Northern Highway between Geraldton-Mount Magnet Road to New Norcia.
• Indian Ocean Drive northbound from Jurien Bay to Brand Highway.
• Midlands Road from Tootra Street, Moora to Three Springs.
• Minilya Exmouth Road at North West Coastal Highway to Exmouth.
• Mullewa Wubin Road from Wubin to Morawa.
• North West Coastal Highway from Carnarvon to Burkett Road.

Cyclone Narelle has passed, however, there still remains a possible threat to lives and homes from the west of Onslow to Coral Bay due to debris.

All evacuation centres, except for Activewest Stadium in Wonthella, have now been closed.

WA farmers are being pushed to the brink by a catastrophic double whammy of soaring costs and acute shortages of fertiliser and fuel, prompting warnings of mass food shortages and price hikes.

Growers and industry leaders say they are becoming more concerned by the day about the disastrous impact it will have on produce like bananas, vegetables, grain, meat and dairy, as well as their own livelihoods.

The crisis threatens to derail WA’s predicted $7 billion harvest — in what has been labelled a “Wheatbelt recession” — with thousands of grain growers at risk of running out of their most crucial inputs, fuel and fertiliser, half way into their seeding program.

In Carnarvon, banana growers already reeling after Cyclone Mitchell wiped out 50 per cent of fruit last month have warned of unprecedented and unsustainable costs which will flow on to fruit prices.

​Read the full story here.​

Fremantle fans are set to be spared the battering rains that have lashed Perth in recent days, with the forecast for the Dockers’ clash with Richmond appearing better than first thought.

Much of the state has been left in chaos with cyclone Narelle unleashing high winds and lashing rain across Thursday and Friday.

However, despite a wet morning in Perth, the rain is set to spare Optus Stadium in time for the 1.15pm bounce down.

Read the full story.

Water Corporation is still urging residents in Exmouth and Onslow to limit their non-essential water use.

Repair crews are rigorously working to repair the towns infrastructure that was damaged by Narelle.

Exmouth is expected to experience low pressure throughout Saturday and water levels in the main storage tanks are being maintained.

This morning the crews restored three groundwater production bores, with works on-going to re-establish power to borefields north and south of Exmouth.

While Onslow crews are working meticulously to repair damaged pipelines that transfers water from the Cane River Bore Field.

Helpful tips to reduce water use include;

• Turning off garden reticulation;
• Avoid hosing down pavement and driveways;
• Keeping showers to four minutes and skip baths;
• Avoid using water-heavy appliances such as washing machines;
• Using a plug in the sink to capture water for re-use.

Despite cyclone Narelle being downgraded the damage had already been done to towns across the state.

Footage shows the devastating damage that Narelle has dealt in her path down WA’s coast.

The Mid West appears to have dodged a bullet, as ex-tropical cyclone Narelle rapidly weakened in strength and moved eastwards overnight, leaving the coastal towns of Geraldton and Kalbarri unscathed.

On Friday March 28, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) originally forecast the cyclone to move over Geraldton in the early hours of Saturday morning as a category one system.

However, as the city prepared and braced for impact, residents woke up fresh on Saturday morning with a full night’s sleep and no cyclone damage. The strongest wind gust recorded at Geraldton Airport was 56km/h, while only 1.6mm of rain was recorded.

Read the full story.

While Carnarvon was engulfed in a weird dust storm, which turned the town ochre, it hardly got a drop of rain.

In fact, it got so loittle that fruit growers in the region were left disappointed.

While they were happy to avoid most of the damaging winds, rain would have been most welcome.

The wild ride of ex-tropical cyclone Narelle is easing but not before unleashing a string of unpredictable hits across WA.

As the system weakened after crossing the coast near Coral Bay, attention has turned to the messy, lingering weather left in its wake.

Amateur weather forecaster Joshua Toohey, who runs the CyclonesOZ YouTube page, said the storm’s rapid collapse likely spared coastal towns from something far worse.

“It was still a massive impact but it could have actually been a whole lot worse,” he told 6PR.

Full story here.

State Emergency Service crews have been busy across the State as residents faced extensive damage from extropical cyclone Narelle.

In the Pilbara, which faced the brunt of the category 4 system, there have been 42 requests for assistance - 33 of thm in Exmouth.

The jobs were mainly for structure damage, flooding and downed trees.

Since Friday, there have been 18 requests for assistance in the Midwest Gascoyne including in Carnarvon and Geraldton.

Extensive rain in the Perth metropolitan overnight also caused 100 requests for assistance with jobs for water ingress and flooding.