Authorities in Western Australia are urging residents to remain cautious as ex-Tropical Cyclone Zelia continues to impact the region. Hedland SES Deputy Manager Barry Harrison warns that road closures are expected to remain in place for the next few days and is advising people not to attempt driving through floodwaters.
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00:00They'll be cut off for, you know, a few days until the water recedes, but as you know,
00:07we had so much rain following Tropical Sean and weather events since then that the ground
00:12is just so wet that it hits the ground running, runs into the rivers.
00:16So yeah, the roads between Carrath and here and north to Broome, down to Newman, are all
00:21potentially cut at this stage, there's no traffic moving, and that'll be because the
00:25water's flowing through all those small rivers and creeks and tributaries.
00:28Is there much concern then about these communities that have been cut off?
00:32I mean, how are you going to get food or medical equipment or medicines to them?
00:39Yeah, so we work with these communities in the lead up to these events, so we make sure
00:44a week out that they've got enough fuel, they've got enough food and supplies.
00:48These communities are very used to this sort of thing, so, you know, they know what's going
00:54to happen and they're well stocked and prepared.
00:57Barry, Nate was telling us that over 200 millilitres of water was dumped down in your area.
01:03Obviously, there's some flood warnings that are currently in place.
01:07What sort of advice would you give to residents who are, you know, starting to venture out
01:11and clean up and pick up the pieces?
01:14Yeah, well, they have been doing that, Felsie, they've been out and about, and as you can
01:18see behind me here, and that's not the worst, some of the worst ones are a lot bigger trees
01:23and massive trees, tree after tree after tree after tree.
01:26We went to one street, I think there was eight or nine massive trees, so they need
01:30to be careful, you know, if you don't have to go out, don't go out.
01:34The shops will open again today, but we'll commence operations shortly over here to start
01:39making a safe passage around the town, but, yeah, if it's flooded, forget it, don't drive
01:45through flooded creek waters.