Premier Mark McGowan to inspect cyclone Seroja damage

Premier Mark McGowan is set to inspect the damage inflicted by Tropical Cyclone Seroja amid fears hundreds of properties could be lost.

No deaths or major injuries have been recorded as a result of the cyclone which tore across WA’s mid-west coast on Sunday night.

Much of the carnage was concentrated in popular tourist spot Kalbarri, 580km north of Perth and home to about 1400 people.

Premier Mark McGowan will on Tuesday visit Kalbarri, where up to 70 per cent of properties are thought to have been damaged.

About 40 per cent of those properties are believed to have sustained major damage including total loss.

“This has been a pretty dramatic and devastating event for many families and many people in the community and it’ll be ongoing now for some weeks, potentially months,” Mr McGowan said.

“I just urge everyone to be patient and be understanding.”

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Seroja made landfall south of Kalbarri about 8pm on Sunday as a category three storm with wind gusts up to 170km/h.

It has since been downgraded to a tropical low and has moved offshore from WA’s south coast.

A red alert was lifted for Kalbarri but remained in place on Monday evening in nearby Northampton, where residents were urged to stay home.

Crews were working to restore power to more than 30,000 homes across the region.

“Power returning may be a matter of days, not hours, given the significant damage to infrastructure across a very wide area,” the premier said.

Evacuation centres have opened in Shark Bay, Dongara and Geraldton and army reservists are assisting State Emergency Service volunteers.

The Australian Defence Force will provide a C-130J Hercules aircraft for medical evacuations and to transport emergency workers and supplies.

Mr McGowan said he had been in touch with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and a disaster relief fund would be activated.

The combined state and federal disaster relief is expected to exceed the $18 million spent on the Wooroloo bushfires which destroyed 86 homes northeast of Perth in February.