Cyclone Stan is gathering strength off Western Australia's Pilbara coast, and may maintain cyclone strength well after it roars ashore.
At 5pm on Saturday, category two Stan was about 170km north-northwest of Pardoo and 185km north-northeast of Port Hedland, moving southeast at 7km/h and expected to hit the coast early on Sunday morning.
The cyclone has sustained winds of 110km/h with gusts to 155km/h, but the Bureau of Meteorology says it's likely to intensify to severe category three strength before it crosses the east Pilbara coast.
Destructive winds with gusts to 200km/h are forecast near the eye as its intensity peaks, and widespread heavy flooding is expected/
It appears Pardoo, a roadhouse tavern and cattle station on the Great Northern Highway, is likely to take a near direct hit.
Stan is the first cyclone of the Australian season, which begins officially on November 1 each year.
Perth-based Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Catherine Schefhout said Stan had slowed, allowing it to gather strength.
"It has stalled off the Pilbara coast at the moment, so we are waiting to see which way it will move," she told AAP on Saturday.
"That means it spends more time over the water that allows it to intensify, to pick up moisture, to strengthen its winds and for its structure to become more symmetrical."
Colleague Noel Puzey told AAP there was little to inhibit the cyclone's path as it cuts a path into the eastern Pilbara.
"It's likely to pass just to the east of Pardoo, and there's not a lot out there - a couple of roadhouses and a cattle station," he said.
"It's relatively flat out there and it will take some time as it moves over land for it to weaken because it won't run up against any mountain ranges, so it might maintain cyclone strength for another 24 to 48 hours."
Temporary evacuation centres have been set up at Karratha and South Hedland.
