After causing deaths and destruction in Indonesia, Tropical Cyclone Seroja made landfall in Western Australia on 11th April 2021, where it destroyed about 70% of the infrastructure in the town of Kalbarri, making 1500 people homeless and causing electrical blackouts.
Seroja was a highly unusual Category 3 cyclone.
Indonesia, where Seroja originated, is too close to the equator for frequent cyclone genesis – only seven tropical cyclones have formed there in the past 20 years.
Another peculiarity of Seroja was that it made landfall in Western Australia so far south from its origin.
Historically, Category 3 cyclones have only made landfall in the area about once every 190 years on average.