Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle is expected to make landfall in the Northern Territory on Saturday evening, after tearing across Far North Queensland yesterday.

The storm hit the Cape York Peninsula as a category four system on Friday morning but had weakened to a category two by the time it entered the Gulf of Carpentaria.

The system continued brewing in the gulf overnight and is expected to reorganise into a category three before making landfall in the territory.

Live five-day Cyclone Narelle forecast mapThis map shows a forecast of Tropical Cyclone Narelle’s path for the next five days.It also shows high wind, cyclone watch and cyclone warning areas.Refer to the Bureau of Meteorology for official cyclone warnings and forecasts.

A cyclone warning is in place for communities along the east coast from Nhulunbuy to Port McArthur, including Borroloola, Numbulwar, Alyangula, and Gapuwiyak.

A watch zone extends to Ramingining, Bulman and Ngukurr.

Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) forecaster Shenagh Gamble said the storm will be packing a dangerous punch by the time it arrives at Groote Eylandt and crosses the coast between Numbulwarr and Birany Birany.

Shenagh Gamble wearing glasses and a sleeveless dress speaks to the media.

Shenagh Gamble from the Bureau of Meteorology says the system will impact the NT this evening.  (ABC News)

“Around the centre of the cyclone we can expect peak wind gusts of 190 to 200 kilometres per hour,” she said.

“Further out from that central core there is still a risk of damaging to destructive wind gusts of 120 to 160 kilometres per hour.

“These winds are strong enough to cause power outages, structural damages and cause trees to fall.”

Strong winds and heavy rain are expected to start impacting communities in the warning zones on Saturday afternoon.

Community evacuated to Darwin, homelands head to centres

About 500 people were to be evacuated from Numbulwar to Darwin in the past 48 hours.

Authorities said communities on Groote Eylandt as well as Borroloola were being prepared to shelter in place.

Community radio broadcaster, Percy Bishop, said communities on Groote Eylandt had been preparing for days.

“The Angurugu clinic will actually be working from the police station in Angurugu, which is a much stronger building,” he said.

“There’s a lot of things that have been put in place to be ready for this, we’ve come together as a community.”

He said there are homes in the community that are coded to withstand a category three cyclone and shelters will open in Alyungula, Angurugu and Umbakumba.

A close-up shot of a bearded middle-aged man speaking into a radio microphone.

Percy Bishop says residents on Groote Eylandt were preparing for dangerous conditions. (Supplied: Anindilyakwa Land Council)

Secure NT said workers at the GEMCO manganese mine were self-evacuating as per internal plans.

On the mainland, about 100 people have been evacuated from Aboriginal homelands in east Arnhem Land.

Laynhapuy Homelands chief executive Glenda Abraham said multiple planes and vehicles were deployed to four outstation communities on Friday.

“The homelands haven’t had new builds out there for many, many years and so a lot of the structure out there isn’t safe or cyclone proof,” she said.

“[People] are coming in with absolute relief they’ve been able to come into a safe place and appreciative of the efforts that have gone to make this happen.”

Katherine braces for second major flood in two weeks

Businesses are being sandbagged and a field hospital has been set up as Katherine braces for another major flood.

Residents of Rurrangala, Baniyala, Balma and Gangan are sheltering in safe accommodation in Nhulunbuy.

Darwin River Dam under pressure again

After crossing the coast, the storm is expected to bring heavy rainfall to already-saturated communities and river systems as it moves west.

Katherine residents are bracing for the possibility of a second major flood in two weeks, with falls up to 200 millimetres expected in some areas.

Power and Water Corporation (PWC) said it was implementing “control measures and safeguards” at the Darwin River Dam amid continued heavy rain.

Green machinery with water rising around it.

Flooding caused equipment failure at the Darwin River Dam last week. (Supplied: Power and Water Corporation)

Flooding caused the failure of the dam’s pumping equipment last Monday, triggering water restrictions and a boil water alert in Darwin.

All four pumps have since been reconnected at the station.

But PWC said in a statement on Friday afternoon that the dam is sitting at 101 per cent capacity. 

“River levels downstream of the dam may rapidly increase with heavy rain causing sudden changes in water levels at road crossings,” a spokesperson said.

“We are implementing control measures to prevent further flooding at our Darwin River Dam pump station and have instigated several safeguard measures as a precaution.”

Parts of Darwin were battered by unrelated severe thunderstorms early on Saturday morning.

BOM said 123.2 millimetres of rain was recorded at Darwin Airport in the two hours to 5.25am.