Floodwaters triggered by Zelia’s coastal crossing near Port Hedland on Friday appear to have peaked in the East Pilbara Shire, with roads cut and communities isolated. Follow our live coverage here.
Floodwaters triggered by Zelia’s coastal crossing near Port Hedland on Friday appear to have peaked in the East Pilbara Shire, with roads cut and communities isolated. Follow our live coverage here.
For the third time this year, Australia’s biggest shire has been hit by flooding – and it’s only February.
Floodwaters triggered by Zelia’s coastal crossing near Port Hedland on Friday appear to have peaked in the East Pilbara Shire, with roads cut and communities isolated.
But the full extent of the damage caused won’t be known until water levels recede, which could take some time particularly in East Pilbara’s vast surrounds.
Communities like Marble Bar and Nullagine have been told they could be cut off for some time.
Getting supplies to isolated communities is a priority.
East Pilbara Shire president Anthony Middleton told AAP he hopes upgrading the 3000-kilometre dirt road network in his shire – which is larger than Victoria and Tasmania combined – will start taking precedence for the state.
“Just trying to get supplies to communities in our area, that’s the challenge we face every time we have unprecedented rain,” he said.
“Normally in a week to 10 days we sort of know where we are sitting with the water receding, then it’s recovery and making sure our dirt roads are accessible for our communities.”
Freight routes across the remote Pilbara region will be cut for days, sparking panic buying with supermarket shelves stripped bare at Broome.
However, authorities said contingencies were in place to have trucks arrive via South Australia and the Northern Territory.
AAP
Here’s what’s making news beyond WA this morning.
- Borrowers could be just weeks away from mortgage relief with a long-awaited Reserve Bank of Australia interest rate cut widely expected.
- Senior officials met in Beijing for the Australia-China Defence Strategic Dialogue, the first since 2019, following a midair incident over the South China Sea.
- One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has confirmed she asked former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce to join her party, an offer she says still stands.
- Overseas, European leaders have begun Ukraine crisis meetings to reach a consensus on how to respond to US President Donald Trump’s shock peace talks with Russia.
Cloudy today, with a top of 31 degrees.
Good morning readers, and welcome to our live news blog for Tuesday, February 18.
In case you missed it, we reported yesterday evening a statement from the family of Elizabeth Pearce, 24, who died on Saturday night when a Perth doctor allegedly drunk-drove and crashed his car into one in which she was a passenger.
“Our world is shattered,” they said.
“Our beautiful, bright girl brought sunshine to our lives and we are now in darkness.”
A magistrate will today decide on a bail application for the alleged driver, who faces manslaughter and aggravated dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm charges. The magistrate delayed a decision yesterday pending her viewing of dash-cam footage of the incident.
Our reporter Rebecca Peppiatt will be in court and we’ll bring you more on that later.
Also making headlines today is news from our courts, where it has emerged that Santos chief Kevin Gallagher is set to take the stand in a long-running legal battle between collapsed contractor Forge Group and engineering giant Clough over insider trading claims.
However, Gallagher’s three-day stint in the witness box could be deferred until 2026.
Meanwhile, the evidence of a nine-year-old girl played a key role in swaying a jury that found a Perth mum guilty of her boyfriend last year.
Claudia Federico denied she was responsible for the death of her partner, FIFO worker Joseph Nicoli, 35, after he bled out at their West Perth home in March 2023 after being stabbed with a knife she was holding during a “heated” argument.
Federico was charged with manslaughter but denied any responsibility, with the Supreme Court of WA on Monday hearing that she blamed her nine-year-old daughter, triple-zero operators and even Nicoli himself for facing criminal charges over the incident.
On Monday, she was sentenced to 7½ years in jail. Read the full story here.
Enrolments in public schools across Western Australia are increasing at a much slower pace than those at private schools, despite climbing school fees and ancillary expenses paired with the rising cost of living.
Around one-third of all students in the state were enrolled at non-government schools in 2024, Australian Bureau of Statistics data released Monday showed, a total increase of 3.3 per cent on the previous year.
Oh, and if you’re doing a spot of house-hunting, looking to upgrade, or just want to have a stickybeak at what prices are doing in our more well-heeled suburbs, then Sarah Brookes has collated some of the cheapest homes sold in our most expensive suburbs.
Thank you for joining us today, stay tuned as we bring you more news you need to know.