PENNY’S THREAT
CAPE York is making preparations today ahead of a tropical low expected to cross the coast at Aurukun this afternoon.
Weipa Town Authority chairman Michael Rowland said all preparations that could be made had been ahead of the system to be named Penny once it is upgraded from a tropical low.
“Now all there is to do is wait and see,” he said.
“We have carried out all our necessary preparations. All the storm drains have been cleaned out … and dangerous trees have been removed.
“We are aware, but not alarmed. We have all done as much as we can in preparation and they are only forecasting a category 2 so it will just be a matter of waiting it out.”
For Bayview Heights resident Bree Love it was all about getting into the party while staying dry. Last night she was out at The Jack with her date Jesse McPherson and then checked out the Taipans game.
“The wet weather has been the talk of the town,” she said.
Yesterday afternoon the Bureau of Meteorology downgraded the chance of the system making landfall as a category 2 storm.
It is now expected to cross the coast as a category 1. Forecaster Dean Narramore said once the system crossed land and entered the Coral Sea there was a “high” chance it would reform as a tropical cyclone.
“It will bring heavy rain from Lockhart River to Port Douglas and we could see hundreds of millimetres of rain,” he said.