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Kalbarri set to re-open to tourists after Cyclone Seroja devastated popular holiday spot

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Ben O'SheaThe West Australian
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VideoThere have been 17 arrests for looting in the wake of Cyclone Seroja.

Kalbarri is set to roll out the welcome mat to tourists less than a month after Cyclone Seroja devastated the popular holiday spot and left up to 70 per cent of properties in the town damaged.

When the clock strikes 6pm tomorrow, the road block that currently seals off Kalbarri from the outside world will be removed, allowing tourists to enter for the first time since Seroja struck on the evening of April 11.

The decision to reopen comes just weeks after the town was battling a dangerous asbestos clean-up in the wake of the cyclone, and with some houses still having tarps instead of roofs.

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Northampton shire president and Kalbarri local Craig Simkin told The West Live that tourism operators in the town simply couldn’t wait any longer.

He admitted some locals at a community meeting yesterday expressed concern the town was reopening “too soon”, but businesses desperately needed the income from Perth tourists.

“We’ve got to get back up on track and get the business houses working and having an income again, and the caravan parks and things like that,” Mr Simkin said.

He said visitors would find it “very surprising” to see the difference between Kalbarri today and how it looked in the days after Seroja, with the local tip overflowing with cleared debris.

The decision to reopen comes just weeks after the town was battling a dangerous asbestos clean-up in the wake of the cyclone, and with some houses still having tarps instead of roofs.
Camera IconThe decision to reopen comes just weeks after the town was battling a dangerous asbestos clean-up in the wake of the cyclone, and with some houses still having tarps instead of roofs. Credit: Simon Hydzik/7NEWS

However, there is still widespread damage and the shire president confirmed the town would be “heavily patrolled” by police officers — so visitors won’t be able to “rubberneck around”.

“We’ve got to open up sometime, and give the people that are still here a chance to get back up on their feet and get going,” Mr Simkin said.

He said the clean-up effort had done little to change early estimates that the $200 million damages bill might take years to overcome.

“I was speaking yesterday to a couple of fellows, who said it might be a good two years, maybe three, before the town gets back to where it was,” Mr Simkin said.

“How long is a piece of string?”

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