Tropical Cyclone Heidi
Posting Date: 12 January 2012
Location: Australia
Peril: Windstorm
Around 18:30UTC on Wednesday, 11 January (04:30am Wednesday, 12 January, local time) Tropical Cyclone Heidi made landfall over the Pilbara coast of Western Australia, close to the town of Port Hedland. Heidi made landfall as a moderate tropical storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, the equivalent of a Category 2 cyclone on the Australian Region Tropical Cyclone Intensity Scale. No major structural damage has been reported from the region, though the cyclone did bring heavy rain and is reported to have caused localized flooding across the central and eastern Pilbara as it tracked inland. Around 3,500 homes lost power in South Hedland (a satellite suburb of Port Hedland). Port Hedland’s airport and port (one of the world’s largest iron ore export terminals) closed in advance of the storm.
The region where Heidi made landfall is predominantly a mining region with limited residential and commercial exposure. Buildings in the region are built to a very high standard and therefore the vulnerability is low.
According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology the current tropical cyclone season (which usually runs from November to April) is expected to be above average, because of expectations of La Niña conditions though the season – in La Niña warmer water temperatures in the western Pacific and northern Australia, and associated changes in circulation patterns, increase cyclone activity.
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