Exmouth residents displaced as town recovers from Cyclone Narelle

Tahila Paul stands in the house she had finished renovating one week before Narelle hit. (ABC Pilbara: Kimberley Putland) Exmouth residents are struggling to find places to live as the number of homes marked uninhabitable since Cyclone Narelle climbs. Cyclone Narelle impacted the tourist town as a category three system in late March. Calls for expedited land releases are growing, while the shire works to bring more short-term accommodation online to help ease the crisis. Link copiedShareShare articleTahila Paul was just sitting down with a coffee on the couch with her husband when Cyclone Narelle ripped the roof off her home. "We were here while the roof peeled off, and within seconds of the roof coming off, the water just started pouring through the downlights and the fans," she said. "Minutes after that, the ceiling gyprock just started falling down. Tahila Paul had just renovated her home before Tropical Cyclone Narelle wreaked havoc. (ABC News: Kimberley Putland) Cyclone Narelle impacted three states, and as it passed Exmouth in Western Australia, it was a category three in strength. Tahila and her husband had purchased their home less than a year ago, and had all but finished renovating a week before the cyclone. Weeks after Narelle, she stands in the gutted wreckage, with no certainty of when she will be able to return. Tahila Paul and her partner are living with friends for now. (ABC Pilbara: Kimberley Putland) "We're really lucky we've been able to stay at a friend's house for the next few weeks, but after that, to be honest, we haven't even really thought about it," she said. "We're not sure — we have options to live with friends, so we are really lucky in that sense. "I think it's going to come down to buying a caravan and living out the front in it. "Because accommodation is tight in town and now trades are going to have to come into town, the town still needs tourism to come in." While one-off disaster relief payments and energy bill relief from state and federal governments eased some of the financial burden, they did little to ease accommodation shortages. Since the cyclone, Exmouth has struggled to welcome tourists with many expressing their frustrations. However, out of more than 3,000 people who call Exmouth home, Ms Paul and her husband are not the only displaced locals struggling to find somewhere to stay. Shire president Matt Niikkula said the housing crisis was something the shire was trying to address. Matt Niikkula says housing in the town is at crisis point. (ABC News: Kimberley Putland) "The lack of housing is affecting so many people and as insurance is moving through and displacing more and more locals … we're scrambling to try to find accommodation for teachers, essential workers," Mr Niikkula said. "Housing is our biggest crisis point at the moment. "Trying to get enough trades into town to be able to fix these houses, enough insurance assessors … the accommodation lacks spread right across, and it's something that we're trying as a council, as the shire, very hard to try to get a hold of. Tropical Cyclone Narelle destroyed homes in Exmouth. (ABC Pilbara: Kimberley Putland) "From a local government perspective, we're trying to take into account everyone's needs and wants, and it's not all just about the loudest screamers." Ray White Exmouth principal licensee Mark Lucas put a call out for homes on social media after clients and families he worked with were displaced. "We've probably seen that number doubled now to probably closer to 10 to 15 per cent of our portfolios that are unusable properties and people being displaced and looking for somewhere else to live," Mr Lucas said. Homes in Exmouth were left uninhabitable after Cyclone Narelle. (ABC News: Kimberley Putland) He said that number could keep increasing. "It's still evolving, so we're still having insurance assessors come to town and saying that properties are uninhabitable — that's a daily occurrence now. "Caravan parks are closed, national parks closed — there is nowhere for people to go." Mark Lucas says the next plan for housing development needs to happen now. (ABC News: Kimberley Putland) While Cyclone Narelle has further stressed the housing market, Mr Lucas said the problem stemmed from a lack of land releases, with the latest development — Sundrift — the first release in close to 20 years. Mr Lucas said the new estate would provide some relief, but accommodation was still around 18 months away after titles were issued and houses built. "I think what needs to happen, though, is that they need to be ready with the next [land release] after that," he said. "You don't want to be going back to the very start of the investigation stage." In a special council meeting in the weeks after Cyclone Narelle, the shire approved an overflow caravan park for self-contained caravans. Mr Niikkula said the town had been amazing as it faced each challenge as part of the recovery from Cyclone Na

Exmouth residents displaced as town recovers from Cyclone Narelle

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