Cyclone Passes Through Northwestern Australia

Cyclone Rosita swept through northwestern Australia today, uprooting trees and blowing roofs off houses. No injuries were reported.

The town of Broome, about 1,000 miles northeast of Perth, the capital of Western Australia state, was buffeted by heavy rain and wind gusts of up to 118 mph as the storm passed through early this morning.

The cyclone began to weaken soon after moving inland from the Indian Ocean.

“There was a lot of noise, a lot of rain . . . we’ve experienced a lot of trees being blown around,” said Graeme Down, a spokesman for Western Australia state emergency services in Broome.

Residents reported that a handful of roofs in the town had either been blown off or damaged by falling trees, Down said.

The Bureau of Meteorology said Rosita was moving east-southeast at 12 mph and steadily weakening as it headed inland.

Residents in the path of the storm were advised to batten down and prepare for heavy rain, Down said.

On Wednesday, towns along the remote northwestern coast had been told to prepare for one of the most powerful cyclones to threaten the country as Rosita approached with winds of up to 162 mph.

Rosita was upgraded to a Category 4 cyclone, the second highest in a ranking scale of five, from a Category 3 late Wednesday.

A spokesman at the Bureau of Meteorology said Wednesday that the storm had disrupted oil production in the region and that it was expected to bring flooding rains and storm tides with damaging waves.

He said Rosita was the strongest storm to approach land since Cyclone John, the most powerful cyclone recorded in Australia, blasted ashore in December.

John hit a sparsely populated area of the northwestern coast but still managed to rip roofs from houses, uproot trees and cut communications in small towns in Western Australia’s Pilbara mining region.

Emergency services officials said Wednesday that residents of coastal towns had been warned to expect dangerous storm tides.

“I think we have got [a 26-foot] high tide tonight, which is a bit of a concern with the cyclone coming down,” emergency services spokesman Gordon Tiddums said.

He said tourists in the area had been warned not to try to reach Broome.

Chevron Australia, operator of the Barrow Island field about 60 miles off the coast south of Port Hedland, said a tanker due to arrive for loading on Tuesday had been delayed until Saturday because of the storm.

“Because of the swell and the unsettled conditions they have made a decision not to berth tankers at this point,” a spokeswoman for the Chevron Corp. unit said.

Woodside Petroleum Ltd. said Tuesday that it had cut output from the Cossack oil field as Rosita approached.