The storm is expected to make landfall Friday afternoon, with wind gusts of up to 180 miles per hour. A port crucial to the global economy has shut down.

One of the biggest cyclones in years is expected to bring up to 500mm of rain over the weekend, after crossing the WA coastline on Friday as a category 5.

Tropical Cyclone Zelia rapidly strengthened off the coast of Western Australia on Wednesday. The Bureau of Meteorology, Australia's national weather service, said the cyclone was Category 4 on Wednesday,