Australia Weather News

Flood alerts have been issued for north-west WA as ex-tropical cyclone Zelia continues to dump rain across the region.

The category four cyclone crossed the coast near De Grey, east of Port Hedland, just after midday yesterday local time, before weakening to below cyclone intensity in the early hours of Saturday.

The tropical low is now 30 kilometres south-west of Marble Bar, bringing heavy rain the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) warns could lead to flash flooding.

A major flood warning has been issued for the De Grey River catchment including Marble Bar, Warralong, and Nullagine.

A flood watch has been issued for Fortescue River, Onslow Coast, Ashburton River, Gascoyne River, and parts of the Sandy Desert catchment.

Senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, Angus Hines, said communities may become isolated and significant road closures should be expected as water levels rise.

"There has been a lot of rainfall. Record rain has been reported across parts of the coast around Pardoo with over 500 millimetres in three days," he said.

"There's major flooding occurring across the De Grey River and its feeder rivers in the Pilbara region, and ongoing flood watches across almost all rivers in north-western parts of the state.

"There will be significant flooding impacts for the next several days and widespread road closures are expected to continue for the next several days as the clean-up continues."

Marble Bar Community Resource Centre coordinator Baz Harris said the local creek, which was dry a few days ago, was about 100 metres wide last night.

"There's no getting across that," he told the ABC's Ivo da Silva, as wind screeched down the phone line.

"[We're] definitely cut off, definitely feeling a little isolated," he said, adding that a power outage made the situation "that little bit more creepy".

Mr Harris spoke to the ABC while "huddling in the hallway" in the dark as rain hammered his windows.

"The front window, which is getting the horizontal rain at the moment, is actually bowing in," he said.

"It is absolutely raining its bum off."

The extreme weather comes just weeks after a freak storm hit Marble Bar, leaving five homes uninhabitable and others damaged.

East Pilbara Shire deputy president Wendy McWhirter Brooks said the town needed housing and road upgrades even before the recent weather events.

But she said Marble Bar often failed to attract government funding.

"[Funding has] been in places with plenty of foot traffic, plenty of road traffic," she said.

She hoped support would be forthcoming if residents needed it in the cyclone's aftermath.

"They are amazing people, they're super resilient," she said.

"I am so concerned that we make sure that we have good services for these people going forward."

As residents emerged to assess the cyclone's damage, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services urged them to be careful, particularly of damaged buildings, floodwaters, and hazards like fallen powerlines and trees.