Australian Associated Press on Friday afternoon reported another storm, tropical cyclone Jacob, has turned from its initial trek towards Christmas Island and is now also heading towards the battered WA coast.

The newswire reported that category two Jacob could cross the Pilbara coast on Sunday or Monday in the same region affected by cyclone George.

Category four George crossed the coast east of Port Hedland about 10pm (WDT) last night. One person was killed and at least 20 injured when the storm flattened portable homes at the Fortescue Metals Group railway construction camp 100km south of Port Hedland.

Another person is believed to have died at a station between the mining camp and Port Hedland.

The victims are among more than 1000 people in three mining camps who have been cut-off from rescuers by 275kmh winds ripping through the region.

Despite traveling over land for about 12 hours, cyclone George is still a category three storm. Search, rescue and medical teams from Perth are reportedly preparing to leave for the Pilbara, but rescue attempts are being hampered by the strong winds.

Western Australian Premier Alan Carpenter described the situation on ABC Radio as “very, very serious.”

The cyclone continues to affect operations of Woodside Petroleum, Santos, BHP Billiton and Chevron off the WA coast.

Woodside said not all of its operations in the area have been affected.

“The Legendre oil operations were shut-in on Wednesday, the Karratha Spirit floating storage offtake facility is out of the way of the path of the cyclone and the Enfield oil operations were unaffected yesterday,” Woodside spokesman Tony Johnson told PetroleumNews.net.

The company said the Cossack-Pioneer FPSO was also shut-in on Wednesday evening, before being disconnected and sailed away. Its north Rankin and Goodwyn platforms are producing as normal as is the gas plant in Karratha.

The company said there had been no reports of damage and was unable to confirm when operations would resume.

Oil and gas producer Santos said it had suspended production at its 55,000 barrel per day Mutineer-Exeter oil field since Tuesday.

“The vessel moved 90 nautical miles west out of the path of the cyclone and it is anticipated returning to location over the weekend and preparation will commence as soon as possible for re-connection and production start-up,” spokeswoman Kathryn Mitchell said.

The cyclone has also affected Chevron's operations on Barrow Island and Thevenard Island. The company reportedly evacuated about 100 staff and tied down equipment ahead of the cyclone's arrival.

The affected operations produce more than 190,000bopd, or about half of Australia's oil production, according to Bloomberg.

BHP suspended production and disconnected its FPSO at its offshore 10,600bopd Griffin oil field on Wednesday. It said operations there would only resume in four to seven days when the cyclone passes the coast.

Queensland-based company Energy Developments said its liquefied natural gas plant under construction in Karratha received heavy rain and strong winds overnight but was not in the direct path of the cyclone.

Managing director Chris Laurie said the company had invoked its emergency response plan on Thursday morning to secure all equipment and safely evacuate all personnel from the site.

“An initial site inspection conducted early this morning did not reveal any major damage to plant and equipment,” Energy Developments said.

“Efforts required to secure the site, combined with a lack of access due to the rain, are expected to have a minor impact on the LNG plant construction schedule.”

AAP reported that cyclone George was 170km north-northwest of Newman and 145km east-northeast of Tom Price just after midday (WDT) and was moving southwest at 13km/h.

George is the second tropical cyclone to hit the WA coast after Isobel disrupted a number of oil, gas and inland mining operations in January.

It is the first cyclone of the WA season, which has an average of five cyclones between November and April.