Severe Tropical Cyclone Ilsa has made its passage through Western Australia but many evacuees from the Great Sandy Desert are yet to return home, cut off by floodwaters.
Punmu coordinator Paul Brann said some relatively minor water damage to property had been discovered, but otherwise the community appeared to have gotten off lightly.The Department of Communities supported 68 people in evacuation centres across the Pilbara on Thursday night in Marble Bar, Nullagine, and Port Hedland.
"The roads in those communities get affected when there's quite a lot of rain. Most likely they will be closed for some time."Pilbara Aboriginal Health Alliance chief executive Chris Pickett said although heavy rain was normal during the wet season, Cyclone Ilsa was different. "Obviously they're keen to get back to the community but a lot of people transit through Newman anyway," he said.Punmu is a remote indigenous community about 640km south-east of Port Hedland.
"We are assuming that all those communities would be isolated by road at the moment just from the rain that fell through the cyclone," he said.A Department of Communities spokesperson said all evacuation centres had been deactivated in consultation with DFES, the emergency services incident controller.
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