Tropical Cyclone Seroja pummels Western Australia
By
Courtney Travis, AccuWeather senior meteorologist &
Maura Kelly, AccuWeather meteorologist
Updated Apr 13, 2021 3:40 AM EDT
Tropical Cyclone Seroja brought strong winds to Geraldton, Western Australia, on April 11 as the storm made landfall in the Australian state.
After drenching parts of Indonesia and taking a unique track across the Timor Sea with Cyclone Odette, Tropical Cyclone Seroja lashed Western Australia with heavy rain and strong winds to start the week.
Seroja strengthened into a Category 3 tropical cyclone on the Australian scale for a time early Sunday, local time. The storm packed 10-minute average sustained wind speeds of 120 km/h (75 mph) at its core as it churned just off the coast.
Around 7:40 p.m., local time, Seroja made landfall along the coast of Western Australia between the towns of Geraldton and Kalbarri as a Category 3 cyclone.
The storm cut power to more than 31,000 customers, as of Monday, according to Reuters. Electricity is likely to take several days to be fully restored.
Officials also noted that coastal town of Kalbarri, about 300 miles (500 km) north of Perth, sustained considerable damage, with nearly 70% of the structures being damaged.
Western Australia state premier Mark McGowan said that “the devastation caused by Cyclone Seroja is widespread and severe,” but fortunately, no deaths or injuries were reported as of Monday afternoon.
By late Sunday night, local time, Seroja was downgraded to a Category 2 cyclone as the interaction with land caused the storm to lose some wind intensity. Seroja continued to lose wind intensity into Monday morning before transitioning into a nontropical storm as it moved across the southern portion of Western Australia.
Despite this transition, Seroja was able to bring areas of heavy rainfall and strong wind gusts.
Tropical Cyclone Seroja can be seen making landfall in this satellite loop captured on Sunday, April 11, 2021. (CIRA/RAMMB)
"[What remains of Seroja was] moving fast enough to avoid significant flooding," said AccuWeather Lead International Meteorologist Jason Nicholls. Rainfall totals of up to 75-150 mm (3-6 inches) lead to localized flooding along the track of the storm through Monday night.
Seroja can also bring rough seas to the southern coast of Australia into the Tuesday as the storm is absorbed by a nontropical system swirling over the Great Australian Bight.
The above satellite image shows Tropical Cyclones Seroja and Odette northwest of Australia on the morning of Friday, April 9, 2021. (AccuWeather)
Activity in the Timor Sea and eastern Indian Ocean began last weekend when a system emerged and eventually developed into Tropical Cyclone Seroja.
Conditions were just right, with plenty of warm water and light to moderate wind shear, to the northwest of Australia for the tropical low northwest of Seroja to strengthen into Tropical Cyclone Odette on Friday morning, local time, as Seroja continued to gain wind strength.
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Approximately 24 hours later though, Odette lost wind intensity and was designated a tropical low once again on Saturday morning, local time, as Seroja continued to intensify.
Both tropical systems remained close to one another, with the eye of each cyclone perhaps only 800 km (500 miles) apart at times to end last week.
With two tropical systems so close together, forecasters said a meteorological phenomenon known as the Fujiwhara effect occurred for a time on Friday. The Fujiwhara effect occurs when two tropical systems are close enough together, and strong enough, that they influence the track of the other, resulting in the two storms rotating around each other.
"Seroja was the dominant feature, with the system formally known as Tropical Low Odette rotating in the clockwise fashion around Seroja," AccuWeather Meteorologist Mary Gilbert said. "This was the case for portions of the day on Friday and Saturday until Seroja absorbed the energy of former Odette later Saturday."
When Cyclone Seroja formed over the weekend, tropical moisture inundated portions of Indonesia, causing deadly mudslides and flooding.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier, Spectrum, FuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios.
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News / Hurricane
Tropical Cyclone Seroja pummels Western Australia
By Courtney Travis, AccuWeather senior meteorologist & Maura Kelly, AccuWeather meteorologist
Updated Apr 13, 2021 3:40 AM EDT
Tropical Cyclone Seroja brought strong winds to Geraldton, Western Australia, on April 11 as the storm made landfall in the Australian state.
After drenching parts of Indonesia and taking a unique track across the Timor Sea with Cyclone Odette, Tropical Cyclone Seroja lashed Western Australia with heavy rain and strong winds to start the week.
Seroja strengthened into a Category 3 tropical cyclone on the Australian scale for a time early Sunday, local time. The storm packed 10-minute average sustained wind speeds of 120 km/h (75 mph) at its core as it churned just off the coast.
Around 7:40 p.m., local time, Seroja made landfall along the coast of Western Australia between the towns of Geraldton and Kalbarri as a Category 3 cyclone.
The storm cut power to more than 31,000 customers, as of Monday, according to Reuters. Electricity is likely to take several days to be fully restored.
Officials also noted that coastal town of Kalbarri, about 300 miles (500 km) north of Perth, sustained considerable damage, with nearly 70% of the structures being damaged.
Western Australia state premier Mark McGowan said that “the devastation caused by Cyclone Seroja is widespread and severe,” but fortunately, no deaths or injuries were reported as of Monday afternoon.
By late Sunday night, local time, Seroja was downgraded to a Category 2 cyclone as the interaction with land caused the storm to lose some wind intensity. Seroja continued to lose wind intensity into Monday morning before transitioning into a nontropical storm as it moved across the southern portion of Western Australia.
Despite this transition, Seroja was able to bring areas of heavy rainfall and strong wind gusts.
Tropical Cyclone Seroja can be seen making landfall in this satellite loop captured on Sunday, April 11, 2021. (CIRA/RAMMB)
"[What remains of Seroja was] moving fast enough to avoid significant flooding," said AccuWeather Lead International Meteorologist Jason Nicholls. Rainfall totals of up to 75-150 mm (3-6 inches) lead to localized flooding along the track of the storm through Monday night.
Seroja can also bring rough seas to the southern coast of Australia into the Tuesday as the storm is absorbed by a nontropical system swirling over the Great Australian Bight.
The above satellite image shows Tropical Cyclones Seroja and Odette northwest of Australia on the morning of Friday, April 9, 2021. (AccuWeather)
Activity in the Timor Sea and eastern Indian Ocean began last weekend when a system emerged and eventually developed into Tropical Cyclone Seroja.
Conditions were just right, with plenty of warm water and light to moderate wind shear, to the northwest of Australia for the tropical low northwest of Seroja to strengthen into Tropical Cyclone Odette on Friday morning, local time, as Seroja continued to gain wind strength.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
Approximately 24 hours later though, Odette lost wind intensity and was designated a tropical low once again on Saturday morning, local time, as Seroja continued to intensify.
Both tropical systems remained close to one another, with the eye of each cyclone perhaps only 800 km (500 miles) apart at times to end last week.
With two tropical systems so close together, forecasters said a meteorological phenomenon known as the Fujiwhara effect occurred for a time on Friday. The Fujiwhara effect occurs when two tropical systems are close enough together, and strong enough, that they influence the track of the other, resulting in the two storms rotating around each other.
Related:
"Seroja was the dominant feature, with the system formally known as Tropical Low Odette rotating in the clockwise fashion around Seroja," AccuWeather Meteorologist Mary Gilbert said. "This was the case for portions of the day on Friday and Saturday until Seroja absorbed the energy of former Odette later Saturday."
When Cyclone Seroja formed over the weekend, tropical moisture inundated portions of Indonesia, causing deadly mudslides and flooding.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier, Spectrum, FuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios.
Report a Typo