Tropical Cyclone Zelia made landfall on Western Australia's Pilbara coast as a Category 5 storm, bringing destructive winds, torrential rain, and flash flooding. Emergency services are addressing extensive damage while major ports and mining operations remain halted,

The storm is expected to make landfall Friday afternoon, with wind gusts of up to 180 miles per hour. A port crucial to the global economy has shut down.

Zelia is expected to weaken to a category two by Saturday as it “loses connection with the warm waters over the Pilbara coast” and moves further into WA, potentially even weakening to a tropical low. But up to 300mm of rain should fall over the next 24 hours and three day totals could reach 500mm.

Powerful category 5 Tropical Cyclone Zelia has made landfall earlier than expected along the West Australian coast, crossing near the De Grey River mouth, east of Port Hedland.

Zelia was a tropical cyclone in the Indian Ocean Friday morning Australian Western Time, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center said in its latest advisory. The tropical cyclone had sustained wind speeds of 132 miles per hour, which would make it a Category 4 hurricane if it were in the Atlantic Ocean.

Locals are bracing for gusts of winds that could rip apart homes and intense rainfall that could deliver flash flooding.