Monty crossed the west Australian coast overnight with winds up to 200 kilometers (120 miles) per hour, dumping more than 200 millimeters (eight inches) of rain on the Pilbara region, the weather bureau reported.

Perth forecaster Andrew Burton said the Bureau of Meteorology had only radio contact with residents in the town of Pannawonica, about 1,430 kilometers (860 miles) north of Perth and suffering the full brunt of Monty.

"Pannawonica is copping a beating at the moment," Burton said.

"We're trying to contact the local police by radio to get a better picture of what's going on. But we believe they're experiencing gusts of winds between 150 kilometers to 160 kph, possibly up to 180 kph," he said.

Burton said the Fortescue River near Pannawonica was at its highest level since 1975 and other rivers were filling fast.

"The big concern after the pounding of Pannawonica will be flooding," he said.

An isolated pastoral station at Mardi, which was hit by Monty overnight, reported wind gusts of more than 200 kph, national radio said.

Fire and Emergency Services spokesman Bill Rose said little major damage had been recorded from the cyclone, but reports were coming in of people being caught by rising waters as the storm moved inland.

"There was one group of people whose car floated away but they managed to climb a tree and get themselves out okay," he said, adding that there were unconfirmed reports that another group was caught in waters and in need of rescue.

The weather bureau's Gavin Edmonds told national radio that Cyclone Monty could help break a four-year drought in the Pilbara region.

"Certainly one event doesn't necessarily break the drought ... [but] if they get follow up rain, it will break the drought," he said.

Western Australia could be hit by more severe weather in coming days. Forecasters said the ex-tropical cyclone Evan, hovering near the north Australian coast on Tuesday, was expected to whip itself back to cyclone force, posing another threat to the Pilbara region.

TERRA.WIRE