A tropical cyclone nearing Australia is forecast to be the most powerful storm in eight years to hit the country, bringing wind gusts of up to 315 kilometres (196 miles) per hour as it crosses the northwest coast, meteorologists said Thursday.
Ilsa reached the highest Category 5 intensity Thursday over the Indian Ocean and is expected to maintain that destructive level as it crosses the Pilbara coast by early Friday.
Residents are on red alert as "dangerous" Tropical Cyclone Ilsa heads for Western Australia's northwest coast as a category five storm, with winds at its centre tipp.
Cyclones are common along the sparsely populated Pilbara coast of Western Australia state and fatalities are rare, but authorities fear that Cyclone Ilsa's extraordinary wind speeds could take some in its path by surprise