Tropical Cyclone Seroja recovery effort continues in Kalbarri three years after it smashed the town

Kalbarri residents assess the damage following Cyclone Seroja in April 2021. (ABC News: Hugh Sando)

It has been described as one of Western Australia’s worst natural disasters.

In April 2021, Tropical Cylone Seroja through the state’s Mid West and Wheatbelt regions, destroying homes and businesses and leaving an estimated $400 million damage bill.

Three years on from the category three cyclone, the community of Kalbarri, which bore the brunt of the system, says recovery is continuing.

Steve Cable, who manages the Kalbarri branch of the State Emergency Service, said the residential rebuild was nearly complete.

But gauging the psychological recovery of the community was a different story.

“There were a lot of people quite shattered by the whole event,” Mr Cable said.

“[There] are still people shaken up about it all.

“We’re certainly recovering, but we’re not there yet.”

A dangerous, late-season cyclone

Cyclone Seroja killed 291 people in Indonesia during April 2021 before unusual weather conditions pushed it south towards WA.

With the late-season track pushing the storm into WA’s Midwest, as opposed to cyclone-hardened communities further north, towns in the firing line such as Kalbarri and Northampton suffered catastrophic damage.

About 70 per cent of houses in Kalbarri were damaged or destroyed.

“Most cyclones can do tremendous damage to a town but it not only wiped this town out, but six or seven other towns were badly damaged and, of course, every farm in between,” Mr Cable said.

He said the adversity of the disaster and rebuild had fundamentally changed the community, with “one hell of an event” now part of their shared human experience.

“One thing that still lingers with the people that were here, is that strong connection,” Mr Cable said.

Departures and new arrivals

Steve Duncan, who owns a surf shop in town, said repairs had progressed significantly, especially in the past six months.

He said a few families left town after the cyclone but many newcomers had since arrived.

“There’s a few vacant blocks now where houses once were, that haven’t been rebuilt,” Mr Duncan said.

“I think we’ve actually had more in than we’ve had out but there’s still a lot of people who are affected.”

Melissa Finlay, owner of an eponymous restaurant and brewery, said there were still projects awaiting funding or completion around town, despite the attention immediately after the disaster.

“That’s really disappointing when they say, ‘You won’t be forgotten’,” she said.

“When, you know, they’re on a flight out and they’re already looking at the next problem and you’re forgotten about.”

She said there had been a lot of work happening in the past three years, but also a lot of bureaucracy to fight.

“We’ve still got our foreshore that needs to be fixed and made safe for visitors and locals to be able to use,” Ms Finlay said.

“A few places are still under construction and there’s still vacant lots of land where places used to stand, so it would be great to see some development going on there too.”

Delays on evacuation centre

A sore point in the recovery is that three years on, Kalbarri still does not have an evacuation centre.

Tropical Cyclone Seroja destroyed several of the town’s emergency assembly points, and the community has regularly expressed concerns about having nowhere to go if another weather system hits.

Shire of Northampton president Liz Sudlow said the first concept plans for an evacuation centre were rejected by the community shortly after the cyclone, as it involved demolishing the existing recreation centre.

“The overwhelming response was the community did not want that,” she said.

New concept plans placing the facility adjacent to the existing recreation centre have been completed and the shire is awaiting the outcome of a disaster resilience grant for works to begin.

However, with the expected cost between $5 million and $6 million, Cr Sudlow said the shire would need to seek other funding options to supplement its own contribution.