March 21, 1999
Web posted at: 12:22 p.m. EST (1722 GMT)

In this story: Flooding predicted Previous storms RELATED STORY, SITES

PERTH, Australia (CNN) -- Australia is bracing for the landfall of Tropical Cyclone Vance, expected to come ashore on a sparsely populated stretch of Western Australia early Monday.

Weather authorities issued a "yellow alert" for coastal communities from Wickham south to Exmouth, including Karratha, Onslow, Dampier, and Roebourne.

About 20,000 people live in the region, half in the main township of Karratha. Authorities said as many as 50,000 people could be affected by the storm.

"This is a very dangerous cyclone, expected to head on a track near the coast, with destructive winds and dangerous storm surges in coastal areas," said Barry Hanstrum, senior forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology's cyclone warning center.

"There will be devastation," said Rick Guy, Western Australia's state emergency services public affairs officer. "It's an extremely serious cyclone."

Further south, Tropical Cyclone Elaine crashed ashore Saturday, causing major flooding in the town of Moora, about 140 miles (220 km) north of Perth.

Flooding predicted

Officials warned that Vance could cause a storm surge of 16 to 20 feet (5 to 6 meters) along the coast, causing extensive damage and flooding.

The 840 residents of Onslow, about 745 miles (1,200 km) north of Perth, were asked to evacuate to shelters 125 miles (200 km) away in Karratha. Authorities were also reportedly evacuating other towns and villages in the storm's path.

Vance, packing wind gusts up to 180 mph (290 km/h), was upgraded Sunday to a category-5 cyclone (on a scale of 1 to 5). The upgrade made the storm more powerful than Cyclone Tracy, which killed 60 people and devastated Darwin, on Australia's north central coast, in 1974.

Previous storms

Two other recent storms -- Orson in 1989 and Olivia in 1996 -- also reached a category 5 intensity. Olivia's 166 mph (267 km/h) gusts were the strongest ever recorded in Australia.

Sunday morning, Cyclone Vance was 210 miles (335 km) north-northwest of Karratha and 260 miles (420 km) north of Onslow. It was headed southwest at 9 mph (15 km/h).

Oil fields off the coast were shut down Saturday as Vance approached. About 115 staff members on the Barrow and Thevenard Island fields were evacuated.

Nearly 2,000 people in the town of Moora were evacuated Saturday after Elaine hit, causing a river to burst its banks, engulfing shops and houses and cutting off roads and communications.

Reporter Hugh Williams and Reuters contributed to this report.

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