Cyclone Seroja: Kalbarri community braces itself to reflect on five-year anniversary of cyclone disaster

Kalbarri locals are breathing a sigh of relief in the aftermath of cyclone Narelle’s near-miss as they prepare themselves for the five-year anniversary of cyclone Seroja next weekend.

On April 11, 2021, the small coastal community was ravaged by a category three cyclone which left homes, infrastructure and the land completely decimated.

A devastating event, with devasting impacts that affected the tourism town as well as Northampton and other inland communities, locals still look back on cyclone Seroja with significant trauma, according to Northampton shire president Liz Sudlow.

With Seroja’s anniversary date fast approaching, this time of year was always a tough one for locals, Ms Sudlow said — leaving people in fear as Narelle swirled closer last weekend.

After causing catastrophic damage to Exmouth, Kalbarri luckily escaped the wrath of Narelle when the system took a more inland path after it crossed the coast between Coral Bay and Cape Cuvier.

Ms Sudlow said there was still a degree of trauma in terms of cyclones, storms and weather in Kalbarri.

“I know I myself don’t enjoy the anniversary each year. It varies for all people, memories of it can be really triggering,” she said.

“Lots of people don’t want to dwell on the whole situation, they don’t want to wallow in the misery of it.”

Ms Sudlow said following Seroja, the community banded together to support and rebuild after about 70 per cent of buildings sustained damage.

“It wasn’t just a show of the Northampton shire — there were many other local surrounding governments who helped with the clean up and work to get the town back to what it is now,” she said.

She added that the shire had now mostly ticked off all infrastructure fixes which had to be made in the cyclone aftermath.

“It’s not as if everything’s been fixed up and everything is hunky-dory. However, the town has had a facelift and if you drive down the main street of Kalbarri, there are some buildings that look better now than what they did beforehand,” she said.

“Particularly in Kalbarri, it was a very tough time after the cyclone as the town was actually closed for some time which coincided with lots of people wanting to travel within WA post-COVID.

“It was quite a busy tourist time and Kalbarri missed out. Since then, I think the town has struggled to get some of that crucial tourist travel back.”

Rob Horstman was a key leader in Kalbarri after Seroja and is now shadow minister for emergency services and volunteering after being elected as a Nationals MLC last year.

He said if not for the learning he did during the recovery from Seroja, he’s “not entirely sure I would be in State Parliament”.

“I’m very fortunate in being able to hopefully put in place some of the practical experience I got from Seroja,” he said.

Mr Horstman said he got goosebumps thinking about cyclone Narelle in the lead-up to the storm.

“There’s still a lot of residual concern whenever there is a cyclone pending or there’s a chance that it could possibly come down south. I think there’s always that concern,” he said.

“I almost felt like the community was recovering from the recovery … We needed to recover from that process. Because it was a lot of people who spent years waiting on insurance claims, which was an ongoing issue. People were under-insured or building costs have gone up. There was a there was a lot of stress and anguish that I do think left some residual stress for people.”

Mr Horstman said the community spirit of Kalbarri and Northampton remained strong.

“When you’ve got people that are willing to check on neighbours after events, are willing to pretty much do whatever they can, I would say that the fabric of the community is still strong,” he said.

FIVE YEARS ON FROM SEROJASPECIAL REPORTS IN THE GERALDTON GUARDIAN NEXT WEEK