Australia Weather News

A fortnight after severe Tropical Cyclone Zelia barrelled into Western Australia's Pilbara coast, residents of the remote communities and cattle stations in the system's path are still picking up the pieces.

The system, which crossed the WA coast on February 14 as a category four cyclone, dumped hundreds of millimetres of rain across the Pilbara.

Kellie Jackman shakes her head in disbelief as she looks around what was once the largest shed on Carlindie Station, about 1,700 kilometres north-east of Perth.

Strong wind turned the structure inside-out, leaving three walls and a corrugated iron roof splayed like flower petals.

"What we've seen is unbelievable," she said. 

"We thought it was a safe zone, but no ... you wouldn't even know there was a shed here."

The station took a near-direct hit from Zelia as it moved inland from the De Grey river mouth.

Ms Jackman, who manages the station with her husband Bill and their three children, said they lost buildings, machinery, utes and untold amounts of fencing to the storm.

The toll on their cattle remains to be seen. 

"I think I was more upset seeing my car [written off] than anything else," she said.

"But, like my oldest said, it's only a car, you still have us, that's all that mattered."

The sights and sounds of Zelia's passage will not be easy for the family to forget.

"This is the door we were holding for several hours to stop [the wind] breaking through … so that it didn't do any more damage to the house," she said.

"We were trying to stay away from the windows because they exploded.

"It was survival mode in a way ... we lost all communication until eight o'clock; we were left on our own."

'The ocean' at his door

For nearly three decades, Alex Dorrington has tended to a native tree nursery on the banks of the Coongan River, with his adopted cat Tinkerbell for company.

Cyclone Zelia had weakened to a category two system by the time it neared his property and the nearby community of Marble Bar.

But record rainfall triggered other problems.

"On the Friday at dusk-time, I could still see the river from the verandah of the house and it had not come over the flats," Mr Dorrington said.

"By half past twelve, my cat woke me up and I could hear water.

"I opened the door and the ocean was here."

Mr Dorrington lost 2,000 propagated plants, with an estimated damage bill of $60,000.

"It does take an emotional toll because it's stuff I've worked with for years," he said.

"It knocks you around because all the work [you've] put in … you just got to keep going, do it again."

Mr Dorrrington said his lower-lying neighbours were hit even harder.

"All the people the other side of next door were completely underwater; they've virtually lost everything," Mr Dorrington said.

He said a low-level crossing recently built upriver altered the flow of floodwater, allowing the deluge to pool until the road burst like a dam.

Enormous slabs of bitumen were visible where they were torn away by rushing water.

Temporary 'cyclone' school

In Port Hedland, a former evacuation centre is abuzz with laughter.

Dozens of children have turned out for makeshift classes at the JD Hardie Youth and Community Hub while their usual school buildings await repairs.

Helicopters evacuated about 60 people from the remote community of Warralong as the rising Coongan, Shaw and De Grey rivers threatened to swallow it whole.

While about half the residents returned home after six days away, others chose to remain in town. 

The community was cut off by severely damaged roads and at least four houses belonging to local teachers were wrecked, meaning school could not resume.

Martu elder Clarrie Robinson said the decision to fly back to Warralong was a difficult one.

Community members had to weigh the benefits of being on country against their family's needs for education and medical care.

Mr Robinson said staying in town removed young people from their culture.

"To take them young kids out to the community, out in the bush [helps] them see, feel the country, so they're connected to the land," he said.

Teacher Ellie Penrose agreed, saying the situation was "not ideal".

"As an independent Aboriginal school, we really highly value connection to country, on-country learning, two-way learning, so that's something we don't currently have access to," she said.

The Nomads Charitable and Educational Foundation, which operates community schools at Warralong and Strelley, said it hoped to bring the latter back online as soon as possible.

Power was restored at Strelley, 65 kilometres from Port Hedland, earlier this week as the foundation prepared to move students there. 

Work is still needed to fix water damage in the classrooms.