Australia's southwest braces for super storm
Source: Reuters
By Rob Taylor CANBERRA, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Australia's southwest was bracing on Thursday for a destructive weather front that could link with remnants of a tropical cyclone to create a "perfect storm". Military and emergency teams on standby in Western Australia state expected a deep low pressure system to cross the coast mid-afternoon, bringing 120 kmh (75 mph) winds and heavy rain. The Bureau of Meteorology warned the front could link with the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Isobel, which crossed the northwest coast on Wednesday, and dump more than 100 millimetres of rain on the Kalgoorlie goldfields, east of Perth. Communities along the southern coast, including Esperance and Albany, were also braced for flooding from what authorities said would be a weather front extending 1,200 km (745 miles), or as far as London to Rome. "Strong wind and rain are going to come together on that south coast," Fire and Emergency Services Authority spokesman Allen Gale told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. Heavy rains were already falling over much of the region as the front approached. Park rangers visited camping grounds to ensure the safety of summer holidaymakers in the sparsely populated area. "They've actually closed some parks to ensure that people don't get exposed to the conditions," Gale said. Australian oil and gas producer Santos Ltd. said it expected weather disruption to be minimal, adding that it would resume production at its Mutineer-Exeter field off Western Australia on Friday, two days after being shut as Cyclone Isobel threatened. But BHP Billiton Ltd. had only a token workforce at its Ravensthorpe nickel project, scheduled to go into service in 2008, and had halted mining operations at its Mt. Keith and Leinster nickel mines due to heavy rains. BHP spokeswoman Emma Meade said the rain was making the ground unstable and unsafe to operate heavy equipment, but the company's concentrators continued to run. "The concentrators are still operating from stockpiles and it is business as usual with the exception of the actual open-cut mining operations," she said. The two working mines produce around 87,000 tonnes of nickel per year, or about 6 percent of world mine output, but the Ravensthorpe smelter project had been hard hit by delays and cost overruns topping A$1 billion ($793 million). "We will recommence operations once the ground has dried out and we deem it safe to use the heavy machinery again," Meade said. Iron ore miner Portman Ltd. was also braced for the worst at its Koolyanobbing mine. (Editing by Miral Fahmy; rob.taylor@reuters.com; Reuters Messaging: rob.taylor.reuters.com@reuters.net, +612 6273 3700))
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