Queensland residents face the threat of another cyclone reaching their shores within days as intense rain continues across Australia’s north, forcing the evacuation of remote communities in the Northern Territory.
About 40 people from Pigeon Hole, a settlement about eight hours south of Darwin, were relocated on Thursday night and another 50 people at nearby Daguragu left for Kalkarindji. A monsoon trough has dumped heavy rain on the territory, with 690mm recorded across seven days at Wadeye south of Darwin along with damaging winds.
To the east, a tropical low building in the Coral Sea is expected to turn towards the Queensland coast from Sunday, with the system most likely becoming a tropical cyclone by Monday. The Bureau of Meteorology says the system could strengthen to a category three or higher, possibly making a “severe impact” on the Queensland coast.
A bureau spokesman said on Thursday a cyclone could cross the state’s east coast from Tuesday but it was too early to predict where it would make landfall. “The earliest possible is in the latter part of Tuesday but that’s not particularly likely,” he said.
The new danger coincides with a massive clean-up effort finally gaining momentum in the state’s far north after record flooding in December caused by Cyclone Jasper. About 150 properties at Orara River, near Grafton in the state’s northern rivers region, were left isolated and could remain cut off for several days.
