Tropical Cyclone Megan Makes Landfall in Australia's North

(Bloomberg) -- Australia’s far north is being lashed by destructive winds and heavy rainfall after Severe Tropical Cyclone Megan made landfall in a sparsely populated area.

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The cyclone hit the coast southeast of Port McArthur as a Category 3 system and will cause an extended period of damaging winds to communities near its track, according to a notice from Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology. Heavy to locally intense rainfall is likely, the agency said.

Glencore Plc has evacuated workers from the Bing Bong loading facility on the Gulf of Carpentaria, and the system is forecast to track near the company’s McArthur River zinc mine as it weakens. The cyclone also led to South32 Ltd. suspending operations at a manganese mine on Groote Eylandt.

On Monday morning, federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said on radio that about 800 people were likely to be evacuated to Darwin from the primarily Indigenous community of Borroloola. By the afternoon, evacuations had been suspended due to deteriorating weather, according to a report from the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Cyclone Megan will now move slowly to the southwest and gradually weaken overnight into Tuesday, according to the bureau. The storm will then track west through the Northern Territory as a tropical low.

Another tropical low northwest of the Pilbara coast is expected to remain weak until Tuesday, the bureau said. From Wednesday, it is forecast to move steadily westward across the Indian Ocean and strengthen. At this stage, there is no threat of any direct impacts to the Pilbara coast, it said.

--With assistance from Amy Bainbridge, Georgina McKay and Ben Sharples.

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