Impact
The largest impact occurred near the core of very destructive winds about 40 km (25 mi) south of Broome. The main homestead on the Thangoo station, 28 km (17 mi) to the south-southeast of Broome, received only minor structural damage, however the station was in the region of the dangerous storm surge. Reports from the Thangoo station, situated 2.5 km (1.6 mi) inland from coastal mangroves, showed that the station’s front gate had debris laid up to the second shoreline, about a metre (3.3 ft) above mean ground level. Another station homestead, 7 km (4.3 mi) west, was covered by coastal dunes but escaped major damage to its structure.
The most severe structural damage occurred near Cape Villaret, 40 km (25 mi) south-southwest of Broome. The Eco-beach tourist resort and the Yardoogarra station were devastated. The area around the homestead was totally devastated. A caravan parked nearby was blown away and crumbled, and a semi trailer was blown to its side. The vegetation, which used to be very lush, was stripped of all leaves by the destructive winds which carried airborne salt and sand. The damage to the vegetation seemed to be worse than the tree damage seen in Exmouth caused by Cyclone Vance in March 1999. About 60 km (37 mi) of fencing was pushed over, all windmills were destroyed, and about 200 head of cattle were lost, mostly due to drowning from the storm surge. However, the path of destruction to the vegetation was estimated to be just 15 to 20 km wide, reflecting Rosita's small size.
The Eco Beach tourist resort was only built to resist wind gusts of Category 3 strength. Only about 10 of the 40 accommodation huts were left standing. Some of the huts were removed from their concrete foundations, and were carried by the winds and smashed into other buildings. Showing how strong Rosita's winds were, a sea container weighing 2.5 tonnes (5500 lb) and filled with 2 to 3 tonnes (4400 to 6600 lb) of equipment was blown 700 m (0.4 mile) across sand dunes. The magnitude of the devastation to the vegetation in this area resembled a place being destroyed by bushfires.
In the town of Broome, the maximum wind gust recorded was 153 km/h (95 mph), recorded at the Broome aerodrome, as well as recording 163.8 mm (6.45 in) of rain for the 24 hours up to 9 a.m. WST (0100 UTC) on 20 April. Vegetation in this area were badly damaged, particularly the African Mahogany trees which were either snapped off or uprooted. Parts of Cable Beach were severely eroded. An area which used to be covered with sand was completely covered by rocks. The eastern side of Roebuck Bay had evidence of severe erosion of the coastal terrain. At Broome's only banana plantation, almost all crops were completely lost, with 10 out of 18,000 plants left surviving. Fortunately, most buildings in the town of Broome remained unharmed, although power supplies were cut to many parts of Broome for several days. The Broome power station was initially shut down at approximately midnight on 20 April amid fears of damage to the power reticulation infrastructure.
Some damages to trees and property were reported in the community of Balgo Hills, located in the Great Sandy Desert approximately 700 km (430 mi) inland from the coast.
Read more about this topic: Cyclone Rosita
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