Residents along parts of the Pilbara coast are being warned it's too late to leave as severe Tropical Cyclone Zelia bears down on the region. South Hedland resident Paul Irwin is sheltering at home as the cyclone approaches, saying nerves are starting to set in.
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00:00It's actually starting to, the realisation is kicking in now.
00:06As I said, I was just out the back five minutes ago and the winds are really starting to strengthen
00:11now.
00:12So it's all starting to hit home now.
00:14It's not far from making landfall, but it's the butterflies definitely are kicking in.
00:19What made you stay?
00:22We sort of got to the point and plus we've got a couple of animals here.
00:27We'd done pretty good preparation leading up to it.
00:29So we were sort of happy with that, but then it did get to the point all the roads were
00:33cut off anyway.
00:34And as there is a centre here, evacuation centre, but it was by the time the alerts
00:39got brought out, it was too late for that anyway.
00:41So we sort of just have to bear down and race through it now.
00:45Have you got a place in the house where you plan to go?
00:48Should it get a bit scary?
00:49Yeah, I actually made that up.
00:53It's pretty much just looking like an adult's cubby house at the moment, but we have got
00:58a place where we can sort of bunker down and sort of a safe spot to go to, yeah.
01:03So who are you there with?
01:04Who's in your house?
01:05Me and my partner and we've got a couple of dogs as well, but yeah, it's just us four
01:12here at the moment.
01:13But yeah, it's a sit and wait game now.
01:16I know when there's storms approaching, animals can sometimes get a bit funny.
01:21How are your dogs?
01:22Are they showing signs of knowing something's about to happen?
01:24Well, yeah, they definitely are showing signs, but usually the lightning and thunder, they
01:29get a little bit of anxiety and stirred up, but today they've been real funny and sort
01:34of real quiet.
01:35Like they sort of have sensed that something's coming, but yeah, they've been real funny
01:41today, real clingy.
01:43Paul, this shot of the tree falling down, is that from your garden?
01:48That was yesterday.
01:49My partner, Em, actually caught that.
01:52She filmed that.
01:53That was at the front of the house yesterday.
01:54I noticed the roots were looking a bit funny there yesterday, and as she's walked out,
01:59it actually fell over just in front of her.
02:02Amazing.
02:03So it's been raining a lot over the last few days, has it?
02:07It's been, it's the last couple of days, it's been a little bit like a steady, consistent
02:11sort of a light rain, but sort of within the last couple of hours, it's really picked up
02:16and we're sort of having a lot more heavy rain, a lot more consistent now, and you can
02:20notice the roads are starting to fill up.