Tropical Cyclone Blanche hits northern Australia

Tropical Cyclone Blanche has developed to the north of Australia’s Top End and is bringing flooding rains across Northern Territory into Western Australia.

The storm is currently located around 300 kilometres west-southwest of Darwin, and is moving southwest at around 6 kilometres an hour.

At its strongest, the winds within the cyclone peaked at around 150km/h just before making landfall in the Kimberley, between Wyndham and Kalumburu, around midday on Monday.

The system currently has sustained winds of 90km/h gusting nearer 120km/h. and those winds will continue easing over the next few days as Blanche moves further inland.

Flooding will now be the major issue. The storm dumped 89mm of rain over Darwin in the 24 hours up to 0600 on Monday. Channel Point was even wetter with 145mm one day.

Further heavy downpours are expected across the region, and the rains are expected to cause flooding across the Kimberley Plateau over the coming days.

A cyclone alert has been issued by Western Australia’s Department of Fire and Emergency Services, which highlighted the possible threat to lives and homes as the cyclone approaches the area.