Tropical cyclone Kimi intensifies as it bears down on far north Queensland
North Queensland residents are battening down the hatches, with a tropical cyclone strengthening to a category two storm and shifting direction a second time.
The Bureau of Meteorology said Cyclone Kimi was barrelling south about 195km north of Townsville at 1pm AEST on Monday.
Kimi was set to slow and stall between Hinchinbrook Island and Townsville and weaken over the next two days without, on current predictions, making landfall.
However, forecasters warn it could still make landfall as a category two storm, packing winds up to 150km/h, on Monday night or on Tuesday.
“The latest guide from the bureau no longer has Kimi crossing the coast,” Laura Boekel from the Bureau of Meteorology told reporters at a briefing in Brisbane on Monday. “But it does have it sort of meandering in the ocean, weakening as it moves south, and then looping back and continuing to weaken as it then moves north up the coast as a low pressure system.”
But Boekel said the small size of the system, combined with light environmental winds, meant the “uncertainty is high” with Kimi.
“The most likely scenario is what we have on our track maps – however, we’re not ruling out a crossing of category two because there is a high degree of uncertainty with the system,” she said. “So the bureau is closely monitoring the system.”
Even without crossing the coast, Kimi is forecast to bring heavy rains, flash flooding, abnormally high tides and damaging winds of up to 150km/h between Innisfail and Ayr. Catchments in that area were already sodden from a wet start to the year, Boekel said, so the possibility of flooding was higher.
The premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, urged people to in far north Queensland to prepare their homes and not to drive on flooded roads.
“Of course, the key message here is if it’s flooded, forget it,” she told reporters. “If you don’t need to be on the roads tonight, don’t go on the roads tonight.
“And similarly, down here in the south-east, there’s also going to be storms this evening, the next couple of hours. There is going to be a lot of rainfall, anywhere between 50 to 100mm…. please, if you don’t need to be on the roads, don’t during this time.”
People between Innisfail and Ayr are being urged to get ready and secure their boats and homes in particular.
The police minister, Mark Ryan, said: “I know we’re Queenslanders, I know we go through cyclones every single year, but please do not be complacent.
“There is something predictable about cyclones, and that is the damage and risk they bring,” he said. “People who are Queenslanders know that when cyclones are coming, you need to get ready. Prepare, be ready, plan ahead. A cyclone is on its way. Prepare as if it’s coming towards your community and be ready.”
Parts of the Wooroonooran, Girramay and Paluma Range national parks, and the Abergowrie State Forest, have been closed.
With the cyclone set to dump rain on large parts of Queensland’s interior, flood warnings have also been issued for a number of inland rivers.
The Norman and Gilbert rivers in the Gulf Country and most of the Queensland tributaries of Lake Eyre could break their banks.
The wild weather comes after thunderstorms hit south-east Queensland on the weekend with reports of 2 to 3cm of hail at Edens Landing, south of Brisbane, on Saturday.
Rainfall around Brisbane averaged 15 to 30mm, while 30 to 60mm totals were felt further north on the Sunshine Coast.
Despite the rain, Brisbane had its hottest day since 16 December 2019 as the mercury topped 35.3C on Saturday.
The weather bureau expected heatwave conditions to continue in the state’s north-west before easing by midweek.