The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has issued warnings for Western Australia's Kimberely and Pilbara regions as Tropical Cyclone Ilsa continues its journey south towards the coast as it intensifies to a likely category-four system.
On Wednesday, the Bureau confirmed Ilsa has strengthened into a category three cyclone which is expected to cross the coast east of Port Hedland between late Thursday and early Friday.
As of 2pm Wednesday WST, it's estimated to be 370 kilometres northwest of Broome and 500 kilometres north of Port Hedland and tracking west southwest across the Indian Ocean at 7 kilometres per hour.
The Bureau has indicated the cyclone will continue to strengthen into the end of the week, with abnormally high tides, heavy rainfall and extreme gusts of winds, as high as 270 km per hour at its 'very destructive core', expected in the area where it crosses the coast and heads inland between the two towns.
Away from its core, winds could still reach 90km to 155km per hour with up to 400mm of rainfall possible.
Should Ilsa cross to a category four as expected, it would be the strongest cyclone to hit the area in over a decade.
Port Hedland mayor Peter Carter said the area is bracing for the extreme weather.
"We're watching it very closely. Everyone is on alert here," he told AAP on Wednesday.
"It is a category-four cyclone - one off a category-five - and we know what happened with Cyclone Tracy in Darwin.
"This will be a big test for us to find out how good the infrastructure in the town (is) and how good are the houses that have been built."
"It'll be a 24-hour thing and we shouldn't lose power hopefully but it's a big cyclone."
Preparations have begun in communities where many are still battling with the destruction left by devastating floods which flooded the region in recent months.
According to the ABC, a week's worth of food and fuel has been shipped into Bidyadanga, WA's largest remote Aboriginal community and a community located directly in line with the cyclone's expected journey.
Ports have been cleared and additional emergency services workers, vehicles and resources have been dispatched into the north-west.
Kimberley Land Council chair Anthony Watson said drizzles had begun by Wednesday and slight panic has seen shops stripped bare with the community stocked with supplies in their own homes.
He said living in the region brings preparedness for these kinds of events, but the lay of the land following the recent floods presents a potential disaster situation.
"A lot of our mob are ready for this type of conditions…and that's all we could ask for," Mr Watson told the National Indigenous Times.
"We have to prepare ourselves to actually cope with disasters.
"This is not new for us, having cyclones come through. But the massive amount of water, which has wiped out Fitzroy can be devastating."
Speaking on Wednesday, Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney said "our advice for people to heed the warnings from local authorities and bunker down or evacuate where necessary".
Current recommended actions from the Bureau of Meteorology advises those living in areas where Cyclone Ilsa is expected to cross to prepare to shelter, find Cyclone advice and DFES Alerts by dialling 13 3337 (13 DFES) and seek assistance from the SES on 132 500.
Call 000 in life threatening situations.
