Cyclone Narelle: Long-lived system downgraded to tropical low, bypasses Geraldton and Kalbarri overnight

The Mid West appears to have dodged a bullet, as ex-tropical cyclone Narelle rapidly weakened in strength and moved eastwards overnight, leaving the coastal towns of Geraldton and Kalbarri unscathed. On Friday March 28, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) originally forecast the cyclone to move over Geraldton in the early hours of Saturday morning as a category one system. However, as the city prepared and braced for impact, residents woke up fresh on Saturday morning with a full night’s sleep and no cyclone damage. The strongest wind gust recorded at Geraldton Airport was 56km/h, while only 1.6mm of rain was recorded. Towns including Exmouth and Carnarvon received a pummeling from Narelle. Jessica Lingard, BoM meteorologist, said the bureau was originally looking to downgrade the system to a tropical low at 8am Saturday, yet made the call early at 6am. “The cyclone moved well inland once it made its coastal crossing and because those stronger winds were on the eastern side of the system, coastal communities like Kalbarri and Geraldton didn’t feel it as it took a more easterly path,” she said. “It turned out the coastal communities ended up being completely removed from the risk area. We do still have a huge severe weather warning out today that covers central parts of the Gascoyne all the way down to the Esperance coastline.” The severe weather warning doesn’t include the coastal areas of Kalbarri and Geraldton but does include more inland areas like Morawa and Mullewa. Mount Magnet did experience a wind gust on Saturday morning of 85km/h. Ms Lingard said as the system continued to peter out, BoM was expecting to see the remnants of Narelle reach the Esperance coastline at 8pm Saturday. Ex-tropical cyclone Narelle was a long lived system, with a lifespan lasting 10 days, impacting Queensland, the Northern Territory and WA. City of Greater Geraldton mayor Jerry Clune said the people of Geraldton would be feeling a sense of relief on Saturday morning. “It was the best result we could have hoped for ... it was good practice though,” he said. “Days ago the weather bureau said the tracking pattern is this, and that it could be anywhere within 400km of that. They told us don’t emphasise on middle line because it could go either way of that. So we had to take caution.” Mr Clune said it appeared inland communities including Mullewa, Morawa and Yalgoo had fared OK overnight. “If it had kept coming down the coast and if it had stayed off into the ocean we would have been in big trouble,” he said. “Fortunately it drifted in that direction where there are not so many towns and it’s not quite as populous. “We saw what happened to Kalbarri when a decent blow comes through ... and we’ve got buildings of a similar quality.” Mr Clune said about 35 people had gone to the evacuation centre at the Geraldton Basketball Stadium by Friday afternoon, many of them in mobile homes and caravans. Geraldton Airport is back open and operating, while the Meru tip will be reopened from 12pm on Saturday and the Geraldton Visitor Centre from 9.30am on Sunday. Rubbish that is usually collected on Fridays will be picked up on Sunday. It will be back to business as usual from Monday.