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Communities in Western Australia’s northwest are battening down the hatches as former Tropical Cyclone Lincoln batters the Pilbara coast.
The cyclone is expected to re-form on Friday as it moves southwest along the Pilbara coast, prompting several weather warnings.
The Bureau of Meteorology predicts an 85 per cent chance of the system reforming before crossing the coast as a category two system near Coral Bay on Saturday.
The tropical cyclone is expected to hit the western Pilbara coast and northern Gascoyne coast before rapidly weakening on Sunday.
“As it makes landfall, that’s when we’ll see the most intense impacts,” meteorologist Miriam Bradbury said in a weather update Thursday.
“Destructive wind gusts of up to 140 km/h and very heavy rainfall are possible, which could cause flash flooding.”
Wind gusts of up to 100km/h were possible on Friday and were strong enough to bring down trees and power lines near the western Pilbara coast and the northern Gascoyne coast.
Communities in northwest Western Australia are battening down the hatches as former Tropical Cyclone Lincoln hits the Pilbara coast (pictured, the storm off the Pilbara coast)
Bradbury said wind gusts of up to 100km/h were possible on Friday which were strong enough to knock down trees and power lines.
Residents in warning areas have been ordered to prepare food and water supplies and emergency kits as the storm prepares to make landfall.
Urban search and rescue specialists are among dozens of emergency services personnel deployed to communities likely to be affected by the cyclone.
Authorities expect the North West Coast Highway to close in several places due to flooding and have said some communities could be isolated for days.
A blue cyclone alert was issued for the area from Mardie south to Wooramel, with residents urged to prepare for destructive winds and possible flooding.
The weather system is expected to re-form on Friday as it moves southwest along the Pilbara coast before crossing the coast on Saturday.
The former tropical cyclone (pictured) is expected to hit the western Pilbara coast and northern Gascoyne coast before rapidly weakening on Sunday.
Multiple flood alerts have been issued for catchments along the Pilbara and Gascoyne coasts.
Lincoln crossed the Northern Territory coast late last week as a Category 1 tropical cyclone from the Gulf of Carpentaria.
The system then moved inland across the Top End and entered WA as a storm.
It brought heavy rain over a wide area, prompting a series of flood watches and warnings in north-west Queensland, the Northern Territory and northern Western Australia.
It moved out to sea again on Wednesday, giving residents just a few days to prepare for the storm to reform and wreak havoc again on Friday.