Tropical Cyclone Narelle: Exmouth, Coral Bay communities start to rebuild amid tourist season

With the Easter long weekend having come and gone, concerns are circling for the popular coastal community of Exmouth as it enters its crucial tourism season. Tropical cyclone Narelle hit the town of Exmouth as a category four system, leaving it completely destroyed right before one of its busiest times of the year. The one silver lining to come from the cyclone has been community support, however local small businesses are still worried about what the future will hold. Tom Powell, Exmouth Surf Centre co-owner, said he opened the doors to the shop for the first time since the cyclone on Easter Sunday and was met with no customers. Mr Powell said despite the town going “gangbusters” with clean up and recovery, the tourism outlook for the town still looked “pretty grim”. “With the roads still closed to town, no one can get any customers,” he said. “For Easter, to get no customers through your door is really worrying.” Mr Powell said Easter was usually the “starting block” for a busy tourism season in Exmouth, yet with the roads still sealed to the town, the start was falling short. He said the surf shop usually got a good local trade but buying a new wetsuit was not on top of the priority list for residents right now. “It’s pretty dire out there,” Mr Powell said. “We will be OK, and we will get there but I do fear for what’s to come for the school holidays. “I do worry about some of the small businesses in town because the knock-on effect of this will be something we will have to fight to come back from.” In comparison, Mr Powell said he had 50 people through the door on Easter Monday last year and took home about $5000. This year, after midday on Easter Monday, the Exmouth surf centre had not had one customer through the door. “Right now, it’s pretty grim but I have faith it will come good,” he said. Easter Monday still saw the town dealing with clean-up from the weather event, leaving the town shut to visitors as Minilya to Exmouth Road remained closed. According to DFES, cyclone Narelle destroyed 15 structures and four residential properties. There were 386 damage assessments made within the Shire of Exmouth with 26 properties severely damaged, 12 of which were residential. Horizon Power said as of Monday night, April 6, 15 customers in Exmouth still remained without power and all customers in Coral Bay had been reconnected. An Exmouth schoolteacher, Lucy Jillings, said the cyclone aftermath had been incredibly hard on the town, but community spirit was bright. “It’s been just amazing to see the community rally and come together,” she said. “And there’s no place quite like Exmouth when it comes to community. It’s amazing how much has already been done in town, to get people back up and running, and the streets cleared and vegetation moved, and everyone’s been helping as many people as they can.” Ms Jillings opened up on her own brush with death, reliving the moment the house she was staying in was struck by a steel beam during the night, missing her by just a metre. She woke up at 5.30am to the “loudest crash” she had ever heard in her life which “catapulted” her out of bed. “A roof had literally landed on our house, and there was a beam poking through the ceiling. It was pretty hectic, and then water just started flooding into the room . . . it was unreal, and it just spread throughout the house,” she said. As the town cleans up and looks to rebuild, Exmouth go-to, Froth Craft Brewery, hosted a community fundraiser on Good Friday to raise funds for the town, its people and its businesses. The pub said it wanted to host an event to bring everyone together for a night of music, food and support. The event featured live music and free food, donations from any purchased pints or glasses and individual donations to support the Exmouth community in a time of need. The brewery said it was blown away by the event’s turnout and the way the community came together to raise critical funds. “We invited Exmouth to come together to fundraise for this amazing community and boy did you all show up,” a Froth Crafte Brewery spokesperson said. Coral Bay was able to claw back some level of tourism over the long weekend, with local boat charters being given the green light to invite passengers back on board after Parks and Wildlife reopened the Ningaloo Marine Park on Saturday, April 4. Visitors were able to flock to the popular coastal spot following the reopening of the North West Coastal Highway at the weekend. Coral Bay Ecotours said its first day back on the water was “buzzing with energy” as they welcomed families back on to the reef with them. “A huge thank you to everyone who joined us on board today for our first big day back,” a Coral Bay Ecotours spokesperson said. “The energy was incredible, and we can’t wait to get back out there . . . the magic of Coral Bay is officially back.”