Overview
- Fina’s destructive core passed just north of Darwin on Saturday night, delivering sustained category‑3 conditions with gusts near 195–205km/h and 168.6mm of rain at the airport in 24 hours.
- Roughly 19,000 customers lost power across Darwin, Palmerston, rural areas and parts of the Tiwi Islands, with telecom outages reported and Darwin Airport reopening on Sunday.
- A section of ceiling and roofing at Royal Darwin Hospital partially collapsed during the storm, with officials confirming no injuries and engineers assessing the damage.
- The Bureau of Meteorology says Fina has intensified to category 4 over the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf and is moving southwest toward the Kimberley, with watches and warnings current for the northern WA coast.
- Western Australia’s emergency services urged residents in remote northeast Kimberley communities to prepare to shelter, with forecasts indicating a possible coastal crossing near the King George River Mouth late Monday and a downgrade in intensity near the coast.