Cyclone Trevor, pushing a big storm tide and packing winds of up to 250km/h, made landfall on the sparsely populated Northern Territory coast. CAIRNS, Australia - A "very destructive" category 4 cyclone slammed into Australia's remote northern coast on Saturday, while a second, equally powerful storm bore down on the country's west. Cyclone Trevor, pushing a big storm tide and packing winds of up to 250 kilometres per hour, made landfall on the sparsely populated Northern Territory coast near the Gulf of Carpentaria town of Port McArthur, the Bureau of Meteorology reported. The storm was downgraded to a category 3 shortly after making landfall and was expected to weaken further as it travelled inland, though officials warned of heavy rains and flooding. "There's a concern that flash flooding may occur," said emergency operations official Michael Hebb The army and police had already evacuated most residents from outposts in Trevor's path, many of them indigenous communities, though a handful of locals remained behind, police said. There were no immediate reports of deaths or injures from the storm, but evacuated residents feared what they might find when they return home. "We are only new to the area and the house we are in isn't going to sustain the expected winds that are predicted," said Port McArthur resident Emily Crawford, who evacuated to the regional capital, Darwin. "This is the scariest thing I've ever been through, I've never lived through even a flooding event, let alone a cyclone of this nature, I hope all my friends and neighbours are safe," she told AFP. The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said Trevor was driving a "very dangerous storm tide" along coastal regions and that heavy rainfall was expected to cause flooding across wide areas of the Northern Territory and neighbouring Queensland. Meanwhile another category 4 cyclone, Veronica, was bearing down on the more heavily populated mining region of Pilbara in Western Australia state, where it was expected to make landfall late Saturday or Sunday. A spokesman for the Western Australia branch of the BOM said Veronica was expected to slow down as it approached the coast near the mining centre of Port Hedland with the "potential for a very dangerous storm surge" at a time when tides are already near their high for the year. He said the region, one of Australia's main mining areas, would experience 12 hours or more of "very destructive winds" and the possibility of "significant coastal inundation". Australia's western coast usually sees three or four cyclones per year and emergency services said residents were well-prepared for the storm.<doc-sep>Twin severe tropical cyclones will hammer northern Australia over the weekend, smashing ecosystems and potentially leaving a hefty repair bill from damaging winds, storm surges and flooding. Both Cyclone Trevor in the Gulf of Carpentaria and Cyclone Veronica off north-western Western Australia are likely to generate wind gusts reaching 275km/h as they near the coast, said Dean Sgarbossa, a senior meteorologist with the Bureau of Meteorology's extreme weather desk. Cyclone Veronica, off the Pilbara coast, and Cyclone Trevor in the Gulf of Carpentaria are likely to batter large areas of northern Australia over the weekend. Credit:Himawari-8 Satellite The trigger for the dual storms was a recent eastward pulse of cloud and rainfall along the equator, known as a Madden-Julian Oscillation. That helped shift southwards the monsoonal trough, which had been lying to Australia's north and producing a relatively dry wet season. The right meteorological conditions combined with warmer than average waters, providing the energy needed for the cyclones to intensify rapidly, Mr Sgarbossa said. Waters in the Gulf are about 1 degree warmer than average, while those off the Pilbara are about 0.5-1 degree warmer than normal.<doc-sep>A satellite image shows twin Cyclone systems in the Australian top end, as at 1pm Saturday. Cyclone Veronica (left) and Cyclone Trevor (right). Credit:Bureau of Meteorology Two cyclones approaching Australia's northern coast have forced residents in both Western Australia and the Northern Territory to evacuate. Tropical Cyclone Trevor, the size of the state of Victoria, touched down on the Northern Territory coast Saturday morning. Upgraded overnight to a category four cyclone, Trevor is travelling across the ground slowly at 19kmh with winds near the centre of 175kmh and wind gusts to 250kmh. This very destructive core, with an eye 30km across, was due to cross the coast on Saturday and move further south and inland into the Barkly district, in the Tennant Creek region, during the day and night, the Katherine Times reports.<doc-sep>
(CNN) Parts of Northern Australia are being evacuated as the region braces for two cyclones to make landfall in the coming days -- one of which has the potential to be the region's most powerful storm in years. Cyclone Trevor is expected to strengthen and hit the Northern Territory on Saturday as the equivalent of a category 3 or 4 Atlantic hurricane, bringing with it destructive winds up to 155 miles per hour (250 kilometers per hour), heavy rain and storm surges. To Trevor's west, Cyclone Veronica has strengthened to the equivalent of a category 3 hurricane since Wednesday. It is expected to peak in intensity off-shore, before making landfall Sunday as a weaker system. Tropical #CycloneTrevor is located in the eastern #GulfofCarpentaria & is expected to rapidly intensify to a Category 3 system as it moves towards the #NT. In the west, #CycloneVeronica is now Cat 4 & tracking towards the #Pilbara coast. Latest warnings https://t.co/RxVKMQeRzS pic.twitter.com/DY8k98klHc — Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) March 20, 2019 Authorities have declared a state of emergency in the Gulf of Carpentaria ahead of Trevor's arrival. The Northern Territory is now undertaking the largest evacuation ahead of a cyclone in its history, Chief Minister Michael Gunner said at a Thursday press conference. Trevor's predicted path over the warm waters of Australia's Gulf of Carpentaria and the region's current atmospheric conditions could cause it to strengthen and become extremely dangerous, Australia's Bureau of Meteorology added. The deadliest cyclone to hit the territory was Severe Tropical Cyclone Tracy, which killed 49 people in the capital Darwin over Christmas in 1974 Read More