Heavy rain lashed the Pilbara region in Western Australia's north on Thursday morning as residents battened down for the approach of tropical cyclone Glenda.
Residents in the cyclone's path have been warned to abandon evacuation plans and seek shelter, with authorities expecting winds of up to 250kph.
Global mining giant Rio Tinto has halted its massive iron ore shipping operations in the Pilbara ahead of Glenda.
Oil and gas giant Woodside is continuing production offshore and onshore except at the Cossack Pioneer and Ocean Legend facilities.
The Fire and Emergency Services Authority of Western Australia (FESA) on Thursday issued a red alert for people in or near the areas of Karratha, Roebourne, Point Samson, Wickham, Dampier and Mardie.
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It was now too dangerous to venture outside and FESA operations area manager Jim Cahill said evacuations in these areas had been been halted.
"We are asking people to stay indoors and to seek shelter," he said.
"The cyclone is basically very close and there are extreme winds and a lot of danger. If people haven't evacuated by now, it's probably a bit late."
Despite Glenda being downgraded to a category four storm, Mr Cahill warned it still had the potential to cause mass destruction.
In its latest cyclone warning, the Bureau of Meteorology said Glenda was 270 kilometres west north-west of Port Hedland and 185 kilometres north north-west of Karratha.
While it continued to travel about 15kph, it had tracked along the coast overnight, delaying its landfall until later Thursday afternoon or night.
"It has tracked a little bit further to the west and that has pushed the time back," a spokesman said.
"So now we're talking later today or tonight for landfall. It's still targeting the west Pilbara coastline but every time it tracks a little bit further west it delays the landfall."
The spokesman said radar scans had already picked up heavy rainfall over a wide area and those falls were expected to intensify as Glenda approached the coast.
FESA said the longer the cyclone stayed off the coast, the stronger it would become.
As well as the red alert for areas expected to feel the full brunt of the storm, a yellow alert had been issued for the communities of Pannawonica and Onslow, with residents urged to prepare for the possibility of destructive winds.
A blue alert also remained in place for people between Exmouth and Whim Creek.
