Near miss still packs a punch

The full brunt of severe tropical cyclone Rusty may have missed Broome and Derby — but they still felt the sting in its tail.

Even though the towns experienced little damage on Wednesday, a number of trees were flattened or had their limbs snapped off as Rusty crossed the coast at Pardoo, 480km south of Broome.

In Derby, waves damaged part of the jetty and concrete pavement was lifted by storm surges.

A knock-on effect impacted on Broome with heavy rain and flooding closing the Great Northern Highway from Derby to Port Hedland and beyond.

Semi-trailers delivering to Woolworths and Coles were stopped in their tracks.

By Friday, both stores had run out of most fresh produce. The milk fridges were empty and there were clear signs other stocks were running critically low.

But the trucks were allowed through and deliveries began rolling in to the supermarkets about 5am on Saturday.