Weather warnings have been upgraded as a cyclone off Western Australia began “intensifying rapidly” on Thursday morning (AEDT) and was expected to reach category five.

Tropical Cyclone Zelia is approaching WA’s Pilbara coast, bringing potential destruction.

The looming cyclone sparked the closure of Australia’s largest iron ore port at Port Hedland.

Weather bureau meteorologist Angus Hines said Zelia had intensified to category three and was expected to become category five by Thursday afternoon.

It could cross the WA coast on Friday.

He said the cyclone could bring “extremely destructive” winds of 200km/h through parts of the northern WA coastline.

“It can really knock down properties, it could take out powerlines, trees, cause massive disruption as well,” he said on ABC’s News Breakfast.

“Hopefully people are able to have a little bit of time to prepare and hunker down and get themselves to somewhere safe.”

Hines said Zelia was “a big one”.

“This is a stretch of the coastline which is very susceptible to cyclones. The northern coast of WA is one of the most cyclone-prone coastlines in the world,” he said.

He said the biggest impact could be at Port Headland, which has a population of about 16,000.

“While that stretch of coast has seen major systems in the past, this one is going to be right up there,” Hines said.

“As I say, category five is as high as it gets. That is as strong as tropical cyclones really develop.

“It’s right up there with some of the more major ones that will have affected that part of the country.”

Port Hedland local Chris Ward said cyclone preparations were well under way in the iron ore town.

“The rain has well and truly started. People are stocking up at the supermarket on food and water, and tying down stuff around their homes,” he said.

“The airports getting busy too, FIFO workers are flying out. Looks like it’s going to be a wet and wild Valentine’s Day.”

The Pilbara Ports Authority cleared berths and anchorages of vessels before closing the port.

BHP paused non-essential travel to Port Hedland while iron ore mines continued to operate.

Authorities worked with retailers to ensure supplies are available to rural, Indigenous and isolated communities, as the cyclone tracked toward the east Pilbara coast.

Additional on-the-ground personnel, flood boats and aircraft have also been pre-deployed.

An evacuation centre is expected to be open at Port Hedland when warnings are upgraded to “watch and act”.

The storm is expected to bring rainfall totals of more than 500 millimetres to the region.

Residents in a warning zone spanning from Bidyadanga to Dampier have been urged to monitor updates.

Major roads and arterial routes across northern WA are expected to be affected for up to a week.

Meanwhile, the clean-up continues in north Queensland after nearly two weeks of flooding that claimed two lives and forced hundreds to evacuate.

The danger has not passed, with flood warnings and watches still in place across the region.

But the record rainfall that isolated communities, closed schools and damaged roads has finally eased.

-with AAP