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Cyclone alert issued for Western Australia's Pilbara region

Xinhua, January 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

Western Australia state's mining region, Pilbara, is on high alert as a tropical low, which could be the region's first tropical cyclone of the season, is moving towards the Pilbara, Australian weather authorities said on Thursday.

A tropical low about 555 kilometers north of Port Hedland is strengthening and may develop into a cyclone on Friday - to be called Stan - and cross the Australian coast on Saturday morning, Australia's Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) warned.

People in coastal areas from Wallal and Dampier are being evacuated as the tropical low was moving south at 11 kilometres per hour, with wind gusts up to 85 kilometres per hour near the center.

"The track maps indicating potentially a crossing somewhere between Port Hedland and Karratha at this stage," Bureau of Meteorology weather observer Daniel Hayes told Australia's national broadcaster.

"It's only expected to get up to a category one, but that does still mean we can see wind gusts up to 90-125 km per hour," Hayes said.

Even if the system does not develop into a cyclone, there is still likely to be gale force winds and heavy rains.

Hayes said following Stan, the bureau is predicting a second cyclone to develop in the first week of February in the Kimberly region.

Australia's weather bureau had previously forecast a late start to the cyclone season, saying two would make landfall.

In 2015, Western Australia didn't experience its first tropical cyclone until March. Enditem