Cyclone Ilsa hit Western Australia with record-breaking winds

It is the strongest cyclone to hit the area in 14 years

A satellite image shows tropical cyclone Ilsa over the coast of north-western Australia on Thursday. EPA

A tropical cyclone made landfall on Western Australia on Friday, prompting emergency crews to issue a warning to rural communities to remain indoors.

The cyclone brought a wind gust of 289 kph — believed to be the strongest on record in Australia, said the Bureau of Meteorology's Todd Smith.

The previous record was 194 kph, set by Cyclone George in 2007.

However, towns and cities appeared to have escaped the worst.

In the early hours of Friday morning, the category five storm landed near the sparsely-populated town of Pardoo, about 19 hours' drive north-east of Perth.

Images from the scene showed the storm's destructive power, blasting through walls and tearing off the roof at the Pardoo petrol station.

“I've been told that early assessments in those areas show damage is fairly minimal,” acting Emergency Services Minister Sue Ellery told reporters.

The storm was downgraded by the weather bureau to a category three system early on Friday, but officials warned it could still pack gusts of up to about 170 kph.

“As it moves inland and the sun comes up, we can expect it to still be a severe tropical cyclone,” the weather bureau's hazard response manager Shenagh Gamble said.

Ilsa is expected to weaken to a tropical low overnight and move into the southern parts of the Northern Territory.

The mayor of Port Hedland on the coast — utilised by BHP Group and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. to export iron ore — told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that winds from the cyclone were “like a freight train” but the town appeared to have been spared from major damage.

The port had been closed since Thursday. The owners of Pardoo Roadhouse, a tavern and gas station along the coastline, reported “great damage” to their building after riding out the storm, according to local media.

Heavy bursts of rain are forecast in some areas, likely triggering flash floods. Destructive winds could hit the remote inland mining town of Telfer, where Newcrest Mining operates a fly-in-fly-out gold and copper mine.