Widespread damage was reported in Exmouth and other towns in northwest WA as category 4 Cyclone Narelle tracked towards the coast this morning, packing winds of more than 250km/h.

Narelle approached Exmouth, the main town in the North West Cape area, before easing to category 3 as it headed south towards Coral Bay and then inland this afternoon.

“We can see a very symmetrical storm – this means a very intense storm with a very clearly defined eye,” the Bureau of Meteorology’s Christie Johnson said today. “It has brought very significant impacts to the northwest of WA so far this morning … Narelle is bringing heavy to intense rainfall, damaging to destructive winds and a dangerous storm tide to northwestern WA.

“As it moves further south, it will weaken to a category 2 as it comes past Kalbarri and Geraldton … most likely becoming a category 1 as it moves inland of Dongara.

“After that, it will drop below tropical cyclone strength ... eventually exiting WA around tomorrow night. And that will finally be the end of Tropical Cyclone Narelle.”

Learmonth, about 30km south of Exmouth, has recorded 300mm of rain.

Exmouth Shire president Matthew Niikkula told ABC Radio Perth: “We’ve had reports of multiple roof losses, torn off houses ... This is the most scary thing in a very long time.”

ABC News reported Exmouth’s evacuation centre had part of its roof blown off.

IAG says its team is assembled and ready to support customers.

“Severe Cyclone Narelle has impacted hundreds of communities across Australia, and we’ve responded ... across three states,” said Luke Gallagher, EGM of claims at IAG brand NRMA Insurance. “Our response vehicles are ready to be deployed to impacted WA communities, and our claims teams, assessors and repairer network are on standby to respond.”

Crawford & Company says in a LinkedIn post it is “closely monitoring the situation, with our catastrophe response teams ready to mobilise if required”.

Narelle is the most powerful storm to hit WA since Seroja made landfall in 2021 as a category 3 cyclone between the townships of Kalbarri and Northampton.

Severe weather warnings are in place for damaging to “locally destructive” wind and heavy rain tomorrow across much of southwest WA east of Perth and northeast of Albany.