Second cyclone bears down on west Australian coast

A day after Cyclone Trevor hit a remote part of the Northern Territory coast, a second Cyclone Veronica settled just off the coast in the Pilbara region. The eye of the storm is expected to stay near the coast on Sunday and overnight.

Port Hedland: Cyclone Veronica has made landfall in Western Australia on the Pilbara coast.

The core of the cyclone has hit land between Port Hedland and Karratha on Sunday with winds expected to be up to 220 kilometres (136.7 miles) per hour.

The eye of the storm is expected to stay near the coast on Sunday and overnight.

More than 179 millimetres (7 inches) of rain have been recorded since Saturday afternoon in Port Hedland.

"This is a very, very slow-moving cyclone, slower than most that have been seen before. It's also a very, very large storm and one not to be underestimated. The advice is that it's coming in somewhere between Hedland and Karratha", said Premier of Western Australia Mark McGowan during a news conference in Perth on Sunday.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology is expecting heavy rainfalls and destructive winds over the next 24 to 36 hours.

There are also concerns over storm surges along the Pilbara coast, but not in Port Hedland.

A storm surge is a combination of high tide and strong winds which can create heavy flooding.