Homes have been flooded by driving rain and people evacuated as Cyclone Narelle barrelled toward Western Australia's northwest coast, unleashing gusts strong enough to shake buildings.
Narelle has intensified into a category four system producing gusts up to 260km/h and is set to make landfall again near Coral Bay in the popular Gascoyne tourist region on Friday afternoon.
The monster system now has WA in its sights after leaving a trail of damage across Queensland and the Northern Territory.
On Friday morning, Narelle was looming about 30km west of resort town Exmouth, ensuring a sleepless night for locals.
The system was producing "absolutely screaming winds" as it passed Exmouth, gateway to the Ningaloo Marine Park.
Exmouth Shire president Matthew Niikkula said the emergency centre had received a big influx of people after roofs began lifting off houses.
The community had more hours of destructive winds to endure before things calmed down, he said.
"But obviously, once it moves past the wind will start coming from 180 degrees the other way," he told AAP.
"That's when more damage happens, because everything that has blown off ... will start flying back.
"That's something that we're certainly not looking forward to."
Power had been cut, leaving locals in the dark with candles and torches facing a long wait before crews could start restoring services.
"I would not imagine that the wind will be safe to go out for a long time yet."
Houses had been flooded by horizontal driving rain while wind gusts had shaken buildings.
"It's a really, really terrifying experience. And I think there's going to be a lot of tired, emotional people around over the next couple of days, and a lot of damage by the sound of it," Mr Niikkula said.
"We're certainly anticipating quite a big clean-up operation."
In Onslow in WA's Pilbara region, Finnish fitter Eemil Jukarainen said he and his partner had been awake for most of the night due to the fierce winds lashing the tiny town of about 900.
"The wind is shaking the house," he told AAP.
"It literally feels like the house is going to take off at any second."
The town, 1380km north of Perth, has also been lashed by relentless horizontal rain.
"Our windows are facing towards the coast, and the wind is blowing rain onto our window," Mr Jukarainen said.
Severe impacts are expected from the western Pilbara coast to the northern Gascoyne coast, extending south to Carnarvon and Denham during Friday, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
Cape Bay is set to be in the firing line when Narelle hits the WA coast as a category four system by midday local time on Friday.
It would mark the first time a cyclone has hit Queensland, the Northern Territory and WA since Ingrid made three crossings in 2005.
On Saturday, Narelle is expected to weaken as it moves southeast, triggering heavy rainfall that could lead to flash flooding and dangerous storm tides, the bureau warned.
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