Onslow awaits Cyclone Monty

[senorpepr]

Tropical Cyclone Monty has been downgraded to a category three (a maximum category two on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) system as it approaches the Pilbara coast.

The oil producing hub of Barrow Island is being lashed by winds in excess of 200 kilometers an hour, while people living in low-lying areas of Onslow are being evacuated to higher ground.

Communities throughout the Pilbara have been inundated and most major roads across the region are now closed.

Andrew Burton from the Bureau of Meteorology says the winds are ferocious.

"At the moment with the intensity as it is it's capable of creating wind gusts of up to 240 kilometers an hour," he said.

Barrow Island is on a red alert while communities from Mardie to Nanutarra remain on yellow alert.

Monty is expected to cross the coast near Onslow later today.

Residents at Onslow, in Western Australia's Pilbara, are hoping their new storm surge wall holds up as category three Cyclone Monty approaches the mainland.

The eye of the storm is now over Barrow Island, 50 kilometers off the Pilbara coast.

Oil operations on the island have been tied down and the few remaining workers have taken cover.

Monty is expected to cross on to the mainland this evening, affecting the salt mining town of Onslow and the pastoral station of Mardie.

Shire Councilor Bill McCauley says he is hoping Onslow's new 4.1 meter storm surge wall will give some protection.

"I suppose everyone's waiting to see what this wall's going to do," Mr McCauley said.

"It'll be a good work out for it anyway."

Communities from Mardie to Nanutarra remain on yellow alert.

[HurricaneGirl]