Severe Tropical Cyclone Ilsa has made its passage through Western Australia but many evacuees from the Great Sandy Desert are yet to return home with remote communities cut off by floodwaters.
Pilbara leaders are relieved remote communities went largely unscathed as Ilsa maintained her strength travelling inland.
But authorities said it was difficult to predict when waters would recede, roads would dry out, and residents would be able to return home.
Inland communities such as Punmu and Parnngurr evacuated children and vulnerable residents ahead of Ilsa's passage, while small numbers of remaining residents and staff sheltered in the limited cyclone-rated accommodation available.
Martu leader Bruce Booth said people did the right thing by evacuating, but not being able to return to community was challenging.
"They feel for their houses," he said.
"When you're evacuated and you don't know what happened. The house could be wrecked, there could be flooding in their house."
He said road access to these communities was an issue that needed to be addressed.
"We've got a road problem in there, we need to look at it seriously," Mr Booth said.
"It's very hard living in the desert because of the road and the flooding … especially for the old people."
Mr Booth said mob from Punmu had evacuated to a centre in Marble Bar, but were now at accommodation in Newman.
Punmu coordinator Paul Brann said some relatively minor water damage to property had been discovered, but otherwise the community appeared to have gotten off lightly.
He said the homes of people who were evacuated were locked so had not been checked as yet.
The Department of Communities supported 68 people in evacuation centres across the Pilbara on Thursday night in Marble Bar, Nullagine, and Port Hedland.
Puntukurnu Aboriginal Medical Service (PAMS) chief executive Robby Chibawe said before the cyclone hit they planned for the possibility that communities would be inaccessible for two weeks.
"We had to be proactive and not take any chances," he said.
He said PAMS assisted in evacuating vulnerable and elderly from communities in the days leading up to Ilsa.
"The roads in those communities get affected when there's quite a lot of rain. Most likely they will be closed for some time."
Pilbara Aboriginal Health Alliance (PAHA) chief executive Chris Pickett said although heavy rain was normal during the wet season, Cyclone Ilsa was different.
"It doesn't take much to change the course of these cyclones and it could have been quite devastating if they had been right in the path. You just can't get complacent about it," he said.
"There's been no real damage, we were extremely lucky."
Mr Pickett said the main focus now is about re-supplying and accessing these remote communities.
Although many are not able to return home, he said most people were grateful for being able to safely evacuate.
"Obviously they're keen to get back to the community but a lot of people transit through Newman anyway," he said.
"They'll be back in community as soon as those roads open."
Department of Fire and Emergency Pilbara superintendent Peter McCarthy said weather conditions had not permitted them to fly helicopters over the communities on Saturday afternoon, but they would do so as soon as it was safe.
"We are assuming that all those communities would be isolated by road at the moment just from the rain that fell through the cyclone," he said.
Mr McCarthy said they had been in contact with all of the communities.
A Department of Communities spokesperson said all evacuation centres had been deactivated in consultation with DFES, the emergency services incident controller.
The spokesperson said 12 Punmu residents had been supported into emergency accommodation at the Marble Bar Civic Centre for the night of April 14, before being transferred to culturally appropriate accommodation in Newman.
Department of Communities staff continue to support DFES and any displaced community members with emergency accommodation, food, clothing and needs, the spokesperson said.
