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  • ‘Howling wind’: Residents still indoors as Tropical Cyclone Luana passes

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    Tropical Cyclone Luana has crossed Western Australia’s Kimberley coast and is edging closer to Derby.

    Luana made landfall as a category two system on Saturday afternoon but was downgraded to a category one later that night.

    Derby residents have been urged to stay home and avoid unnecessary travel.

    Tropical Cyclone Luana has weakened to a category one system. (Supplied: Bureau of Meteorology)

    Horizon Power website shows a power outage in Derby which has impacted more than 350 customers.

    Expected restoration time is 10:30pm on Saturday night.

    Flood warnings are still in place, with Luana expected to bring 150–200mm of rain across the West Kimberley over the next 24–48 hours.

    Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Jessica Lingard said they have recorded wind gusts of 106km/h at Lombadina.

    Residents fuel up in Derby

    Stormy weather has begun in Derby ahead of Cyclone Luana’s arrival. (ABC Kimberley: Dunja Karagic)

    Ms Lingard said a king tide was expected about 5:30pm Saturday, which could reach as high as 11 metres, making coastal inundation likely.

    She said the cyclone was likely to add another metre onto the tide.

    Extra resources sent to Derby

    DFES Kimberley Superintendent Leon Gardiner said additional resources were on stand-by for when the cyclone hit Derby.

    Man wearing high vis vest looking at camera

    Leon Gardiner says a large contingent of emergency services is on stand-by for post-impact support. (ABC News: Mya Kordic)

    At about 6:30pm Mr Gardiner said there were no incidents reported and looks like people have faired “pretty well”.

    “There is likely to be a fair amount of debris, but that will become clearer in the light of day,” he said.

    Mr Gardiner said his focus was maintaining awareness of where the cyclone was going and understand the path of damage.

    “We are still expecting a storm surge so people need to remain vigilant,” he said.

    Derby SES volunteers undertaking cyclone preparation

    Staff from Derby State Emergency Service prepare for the arrival of Tropical Cyclone Luana. (ABC Kimberley: Dunja Karagic)

    Mr Gardiner said plans were still in place to hit the ground running in the morning to assess any damage.

    Non-stop rain at Ardyloon

    Ardyaloon community CEO John Reudavey said it was a “huge effort” to prepare residents for the cyclone’s crossing.

    A fallen tree.

    Trees have been feeling the full force of Tropical Cyclone Luana at Ardyloon community. (Supplied: John Reudavey)

    “We’ve got all the elders, babies, kids, mums… they were all taken out of the community yesterday, so they’re all safe and sound in Broome,” he said.

    Mr Reudavey said the rain had not stopped throughout the day.

    “Basically the last 12-14 hours, we’ve just been sitting here, copping rain, sideways rain and winds,” he said.

    “We had 71 mm overnight up to about 8:30, 9:00 o’clock this morning.”

    Mr Reudavey said around 50 residents and staff remained in the community, which had support from DFES.

    “Everything’s cyclone rated up here, so we’re pretty safe,” he said.

    “The shop’s fully stocked, so everyone’s been in this morning, loaded up for supplies.”

    Howling winds at Chili Creek

    Remote community Chili Creek resident Roma Peurtollano said the howling wind was scary.

    She has sheltered at home with her dog who was also frightened.

    A woman with grey hair covering her face.

    Chili Creek resident Roma Peurtollano struggled to keep her hair from her face in the “howling” winds from Luana. (Supplied: Roma Peurtollano)

    “Yesterday [Friday] was eerie leading up to it. No rain or wind,” she said.

    “Then at 2am it came down and it hasn’t stopped, I have been awake since.”

    Ms Peurtollano said she had not gone outside yet to see what kind of damage there was.

    But she was worried about her mahogany tree which could fall onto her home. 

    She said Tropical Cyclone Luana felt stronger than Ex-Tropical Cyclone Hayley which passed through in December.

    Trees feel force of Luana

    Djarindjin community chief executive Nathan McIvor described conditions in their community as the cyclone began to cross the coast.

    “It has picked up right now, the wind has picked up, and we’re getting a little bit more rain coming through,” he said.

    Mr McIvor said he had seen some branches and limbs come off trees in the community.

    cloudy sky with lots of rain and trees

    The Djarindjin community has already had a significant amount of rain as Tropical Cyclone Luana made landfall. (Supplied)

    “Hoping that we don’t see any infrastructure damage with the back end of the storm and we keep the trees that we’ve got currently,” he said.

    Mr McIvor also had a safety message for Kimberley residents.

    “Everybody stay safe out there in the West Kimberley, take care of yourself, don’t do anything silly, heed all the warnings,” he said.

    Supermarket fully stocked as final preparations made

    While communities along the peninsula are sheltering in place, residents in Derby, 200km east of Broome, have been making final preparations.

    Rusty’s IGA Manager Tameka Plummer said a steady stream of people had been coming through the doors to secure supplies.

    A pile of sandbags inside a bullding in Derby.

    Sandbags piled up in Derby as residents prepare for the arrival of Tropical Cyclone Luana. (ABC Kimberley: Dunja Karagic)

    “As soon as we opened the door, there were people out the front waiting to get all the last-minute necessities,” she said.

    “Bread, eggs, toilet paper; we’ve got pallets of that.

    “We had a delivery truck on Thursday, so we are fully stocked.”

    Visit Emergency WA, call DFES on 133 337, download the Emergency WA app, or listen to ABC Kimberley to stay up to date.

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  • Christmas Day cyclone greets remote Australian islands

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    Tropical Cyclone Grant is expected to remain a category one system as it passes just to the north of a tiny group of islands off the West Australian coast on Christmas Day.

    A Cyclone Watch and Act advisory is in place for the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, with residents urged to remain indoors.

    Wind gusts of up to 100km/h are predicted, along with heavy rain and flash flooding.

    About 600 people live on the islands, more than 2,000 kilometres off the north-west WA coastline, about midway between Australia and Sri Lanka.

    The group consists of 27 islands but only two, West and Home islands, are inhabited.

    The cyclone track map (as at 9am Thursday) shows the cyclone’s path will pass north of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. (Supplied: Bureau of Meteorology)

    The community is no stranger to unpredictable weather at this time of year and a cyclone shelter is available to residents during these kinds of systems.

    There have been preliminary reports of flooding and uprooted trees but further assessments to determine the extent of the damage have yet to be made.

    Tourists take shelter

    Helen, from regional Victoria, is visiting the Cocos (Keeling) Islands for Christmas and has been taking cover in her accommodation.

    “Everything is blowing horizontal, furious, rain and wind, the odd thunder and lightning. You wouldn’t want to be out there exposed at all,” she said.

    “A few things flying around, although the locals have spent two days tying just about everything down, so there’s not, you know, roofing sheets and things flying about.

    “They’ve been very precise and very clear and certainly no ambiguity about what we say we’ll potentially facing, so that’s good.”

    Wind lashes trees along the coast

    The Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting high tides, heavy rainfall and strong ocean currents. (Supplied)

    Helen said the community dinner planned for Christmas Day had been cancelled so plans for the rest of the day were likely to involve assisting with the clean-up.

    “I think we might be helping clean up later today, because I’m sure there will be plenty of work to do,” she said.

    “Well, we were to leave the island tomorrow, but that flight’s been cancelled. So we’ll go the day after, once all the clean-up’s done.”

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  • Tropical Cyclone Grant nears islands as Christmas heatwave scorches WA

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    Preparations are underway far off Western Australia’s north-west coast for the impact of a category one cyclone as Perth and much of the state continues to swelter in heatwave conditions.

    Tropical Cyclone Grant formed on Tuesday morning in the Indian Ocean, east of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and could cause large waves, flash flooding and wind gusts of up to 100 kilometres per hour.

    The system is moving in a west-north-westerly direction at around 8 kilometres per hour, and is expected to pass close to the Islands late on Christmas Eve or early Christmas Day.

    A track map shows Cyclone Grant will impact the Cocos Islands late on Christmas Eve or early Christmas Day.  (Supplied: Bureau of Meteorology)

    The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has warned the cyclone could strengthen to a category two by this evening.

    BOM duty forecaster Helen Reid warned residents of the islands, which is home to around 600 people, to prepare for strong winds and flooding, with the system set to make its presence felt from today.

    “We are expecting it to travel to the north of the Island rather than right across the island, but given it’s just such a small spot in the size of a large ocean, it will be very close to the island there,” she said.

    “We do need to be aware of those winds getting up to around 40 knots over the night tonight, and also those seas and swells getting up to around two to four metres.

    “There will be plenty of rainfall, lots of flash flooding as well and the chance of a thunderstorm, and we are expecting that westward track to continue into tomorrow and away from the Island during the course of Christmas Day itself.”

    The BOM said while there was no immediate danger, residents should be prepared and keep up to date with advice.

    Thunderstorms now a possibility for Perth

    A low pressure trough is not only bringing hot conditions with it, but is likely to generate dry and gusty thunderstorms for areas along the west coast.

    The weather bureau has updated the Christmas Day forecast for Perth, with thunderstorms now a possibility in the afternoon and early evening.

    A group of people wearing raincoats and holding umbrellas while walking through the Perth CBD.

    The weather bureau is now forecasting the potential for thunderstorms in Perth in the afternoon and early evening. (ABC News: Jack Stevenson)

    Duty forecaster Daniel Hayes told ABC Radio Perth there could be odd storm around the metro as the trough begins to move inland.

    “We’ll see some cooler temperatures around the west coast into boxing day, [but] it will still be hot further to the east, so through the Goldfields, the eastern parts of the South West land division and across the Eucla coast area,” he said.

    “That heat will largely exit the southern parts of the state as we head into the weekend.

    “We then have a couple of cooler days at least before we start to see the heat build again sometime next week with the next west coast trough developing.”

    Perth facing 40C

    A three-day heatwave warning is in place for much of the WA coastal and north interior regions between December 23 and Boxing Day.

    Perth is set to reach 40 degrees Celsius on Christmas Day, and overnight temperatures around the state will be in the mid to high-20s.

    A man and two women use a beach shower at Cottesloe Beach on a sunny, hot day.

    Crowds of people have already been cooling off at the beach in Perth this week. (ABC News: Courtney Withers)

    Day-time temperatures will be up to 15 degrees above average in the far south-west, and about 10 degrees warmer than usual for places like the metro area.

    If the overnight temperature in Perth stays above 26 degrees, it could break a century-old Christmas record for the city.

    Perth’s warmest Christmas morning on record dates back to 1915, when the minimum only dropped to 25.9 degrees.

    The hot temperatures combined with strong winds mean high and extreme fire danger ratings blanket much of WA on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

    Total fire bans are in place on Christmas Eve from Perth’s Swan Valley region all the way up to Kalbarri in the Midwest.

    Department of Fire and Emergency Services deputy commissioner Craig Waters urged people to be aware of the conditions.

    “It only takes one person to do the wrong thing,” he told ABC Radio Perth.

    “We’re asking all of the community to make sure that they follow the total fire ban rules, if one is issued for their area.

    A graphic of the synoptic chart for Australia on Christmas Day.

    A graphic of the synoptic chart for Australia on Christmas Day. (ABC News)

    “So that includes no hot works, no four-wheel driving off-road, and no solid fuel barbecues.

    “If we reflect back to the Roleystone bushfire, which was started via angle grinder, it just takes one spark to make a major bushfire event.”

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  • A thief stole a scooter at a shopping centre. It was put there by police as bait

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    WA Police are placing e-scooters outside shopping centres for people to steal, in a “proactive” operation that a human rights advocate says is inducing disadvantaged people to commit crime.

    A court transcript obtained by the ABC detailed proceedings in the Armadale Magistrates Court in Perth’s south-east on May 26, when the police operation was brought to light.

    The document revealed a 21-year-old man had been charged with stealing an electric scooter that was “property of the Commissioner of Police” and valued at $800.

    The incident took place in Bentley on May 3.

    “Police positioned an electronic rideable scooter by the front entrance of a shopping centre as part of a proactive police operation to combat the theft of e-scooters in the area,” the police prosecutor said.

    Minutes after the e-scooter was left in position, the 21-year-old turned it on, folded up its stand and rode away — with his actions captured on CCTV, the prosecutor said.

    He pleaded guilty to the charge and told the court he “fell in the trap”.

    Magistrate Rosemarie Myers labelled the man’s behaviour “stupid”.

    “But I have some concerns about the situation that you found yourself in on that day,” Magistrate Myers said.

    ‘Don’t get caught in trap again’: Magistrate

    The court heard the man was apprehended while riding the scooter and had told police: “I took the scooter to get home quicker, I know I shouldn’t have taken it.”

    The man’s defence lawyer told the court his client was remorseful.

    The magistrate said she had “concerns about the situation” the man found himself in at the shopping centre. (ABC News)

    “He’s not working, but he’s on the Youth Allowance. He instructs me he’s looking for a job as well … in the mines,” the lawyer said.

    “He grew up in Narrogin with his grandparents and instructs me his grandfather passed away last year, Your Honour, which has impacted his life since then.

    “He instructs me his grandmother is [suffering from] cancer at the moment.”

    The magistrate handed the man a one-month conditional release order with a fine of $250.

    “Don’t get yourself caught in the trap again,” she told the man.

    Fears police inducing vulnerable people

    Human rights law expert Dr Hannah McGlade said she was disappointed by the operation and feared it would only further clog up courts and prisons with minor offending matters, rather than addressing root causes such as poverty.

    “Why would the police be trying to encourage people to actually commit an offence of stealing?” she asked.

    “We’re talking about very poor people who are living under the poverty line.

    “I think this is very questionable policing practice … and a waste of policing resources.”

    Hannah McGlade portrait close

    Hannah McGlade says the courts should be “very sceptical” of cases involving similar police tactics. (ABC News: Cason Ho)

    The man was represented in the proceedings by the Aboriginal Legal Service.

    Dr McGlade said Aboriginal people fared worse in the criminal justice system “at every stage” and this kind of police operation could amplify inequality.

    “I think the courts should be very sceptical of any matters coming before them where the police have engaged in this kind of tactic,” she said.

    “I don’t think we need to be making life harder for people who are already doing it very … tough. We should be supporting and assisting them in their needs.”

    Questions around ‘entrapment’

    Curtin University senior law lecturer Dr Stephen Monterosso said the incident “sounds like entrapment”, but the courts were left to consider whether evidence obtained that way could be used.

    “We don’t really have an entrapment defence in Australia, unlike in America,” he said.

    Curtin University senior law lecturer Dr Stephen Monterosso sits at his desk in his office, reading a book.

    Stephen Monterosso says the case raises questions about civil liberties.  (ABC News: West Matteeussen)

    “Although our courts do retain the discretion to disallow evidence they feel has been induced by police conduct if you like, or abuse of process.”

    Dr Monterosso said it was difficult to find statistics to show whether this method of proactive policing reduced crime.

    He said while police have used this tactic for a long time, it raised questions about civil liberties.

    Dr Monterosso said while Australian courts were wary of obtaining evidence by “abuse of process”, other police operations required entrapment, including catching paedophiles in online investigations.

    “They [police operations] really need to be within the requirements not to exceed any boundaries, the courts retain that discretion to disallow evidence,” he said.

    Dr Monterosso said he would be interested to see the yearly police statistics on theft in the district where the e-scooter operation took place.

    Police defend ‘lawful tactics’

    But WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch strongly defended the tactic.

    “I know there’s been commentary about ‘is that ethical?’ Well, I say yes,” he told ABC Radio Perth.

    “Victims do ring the police and say, ‘I’m unhappy about this, my scooter is being stolen, what are the police doing about it?’ 

    WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch speaks about GPS Tracking of serious and repeat FDV offenders

    WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch has strongly defended the “innovative” use of police-owned scooters to catch thieves. (ABC News: Jake Sturmer)

    “This is what we’re doing about it.

    “What’s the difference between a locked-up scooter owned by the police or a locked-up scooter owned by a young person or an adult parked at the shopping centre?”

    Commissioner Blanch said it was good to see “innovative” measures being used to stop crime.

    “I say it’s within the law. I’m yet to be proven wrong, but I’m happy for someone to give me an alternative position saying it’s illegal or immoral for police to do,”

    he said.

    “We’ve had bait cars in the past … police have been doing that for years around the world, including in WA.”

    Earlier, in a statement to the ABC, a WA Police spokesperson said seized or forfeited e-rideables were used in police enforcement activities at “zero cost to the community”.

    A woman sits in front of a WA Police sign at a press conference

    Police declined to say whether the tactic is being used in other districts to catch thieves. (ABC News: Kenith Png)

    When asked by the ABC if the operation resulted in a reduction of e-scooter theft, police failed to produce any data.

    Police also declined to answer whether the operation was being carried out in other WA Police districts.

    The spokesperson said their target e-rideables were secured and the decision to steal them “rests” on an individual, who would be “held to account for their actions”.

    “Stealing is classified as a serious offence in Western Australia, punishable by way of heavy fines and a term of imprisonment in some circumstances,” they said.

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