Cyclone Ilsa leaves millions of dollars in damage after record winds

By admin On Apr 14, 2023

The destruction is widespread at Pardoo Roadhouse and Tavern where Cyclone Ilsa has left a $4 million damage bill in its wake.

Trees were uprooted, trucks toppled and petrol pumps torn from the ground when the category 5 storm made landfall with wind gusts up to 289km/h in Western Australia north-east of Port Headland.

Ilsa has been downgraded after delivering what is likely the strongest wind gust ever recorded in Australia, but Western Australia’s acting emergency services minister has warned the threat from the storm “is not over yet” as it moves further inland.

Total destruction at Pardoo Roadhouse and Tavern where Cyclone Ilsa has left a $4 million-dollar damage bill in its wake (9News)

“We’re going to do some checks on the data there, but it’s likely that that will go down as the strongest wind gusts ever recorded by the Bureau’s equipment in Australia,” Todd Smith, the Bureau of Meteorology’s hazard preparedness and response manager, said in Perth on Friday.

“So it just shows how strong this system was when it was approaching the coast.”

The roadhouse owner, 36-year-old father Varinder Batth, and his business partner were forced to take shelter in a shipping container as the cyclone went over the venue, leaving extensive damage in its wake.

“Once we reached there, I didn’t stop shaking for at least two hours,” he told 9News.

“We down sat there for at least about four hours, it felt like four days.”

Pardoo Roadhouse and Tavern damage after Cyclone Ilsa made landfall — Trees uprooted, trucks toppled and petrol pumps torn from the ground after the WA venue, to the north-east of Port Headland. (9News)

Batth estimates the damage bill is around $4 million and with insurance unlikely to cover the whole bill, a GoFundMe page has already been set up.

The WA governement is yet to announce any disaster relief funding.

The tropical low is expected to dump rain across Australia for several days as it moves further inland and past the mining town of Telfer in the Pilbara’s far east.

Ilsa was heading straight for Port Headland until changing direction hours before it made landfall, with the Bureau of Meteorology saying the area “dodged a bullet”.

A satellite image showing Cyclone Ilsa at 2:30pm (AEST) on April 14. — Cyclone Ilsa is expected to weaken further as it continues to move east. (BoM)

The bulk of the damage recorded so far was at Pardoo Roadhouse, to the north-east of Port Hedland. (Supplied/Facebook)

The port re-opened on Friday morning after a 24-hour closure in anticipation of the weather event.

“The fact that the cyclone took a south-eastward shift in the track late yesterday afternoon really means that Port Hedland dodged a bullet last night,” Smith said.

“Most of the impacts as we’ve seen are further to the east, and the impacts in Port Hedland were really light with the system tracking about 150km further along the track.”

Smith said the storm is expected to continue moving east before dropping below cyclone intensity and moving into the Northern Territory.

But while it is weakening, acting Emergency Services Minister Sue Ellery said Ilsa still poses danger.