{"id":549395,"date":"2026-03-19T00:03:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T00:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/549395\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T00:03:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T00:03:12","slug":"tropical-cyclone-narelle-could-intensify-into-category-five-system-before-making-landfall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/549395\/","title":{"rendered":"Tropical Cyclone Narelle could intensify into category five system before making landfall"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tropical Cyclone Narelle may now cross the Far North Queensland coast as a category five system, delivering wind gusts likely to top 250 kilometres per hour.<\/p>\n

The storm is 440 kilometres east-north-east of Cooktown, travelling west-south-west at 22km\/h.<\/p>\n

Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle live updates<\/a>: For the latest news on the cyclone, read our blog.<\/p>\n

Narelle is currently a category four system but is expected to intensify into a category five on Thursday evening before making landfall on Friday between Cooktown and the Lockhart River.<\/p>\n

Wind direction and intensity of Tropical Cyclone Narelle. (Supplied: Nullschool; MIT Licence)<\/p>\n

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) warns the system could bring very destructive wind gusts “in excess of 250km\/h” to northern townships, along with heavy rainfall that could lead to flash flooding.<\/p>\n

The weather bureau says it “remains to be seen” whether the cyclone will make landfall as a category five system or weaken to a category four by the time it reaches the coastline.<\/p>\n

Those on the water are being told to expect hurricane-force winds, the most serious warning available, with winds above 64 knots, and the potential to create waves in coastal waters topping 11 metres.<\/p>\n

A warning zone has been declared between Lockhart River and Cape Tribulation, and a watch zone extends across the Central Peninsula between Kowanyama and Weipa, along with adjacent inland areas.<\/p>\n

Port Douglas is no longer included in the watch area.<\/p>\n

Senior meteorologist Daniel Hayes said while cyclones could be unpredictable, forecasters expected Narelle to follow a clear path.<\/p>\n

“We have a good degree of confidence about where it’s going to go,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Fingers crossed we do see a little bit of a lessening of the impact before it makes its impact at the Coen township.”<\/p>\n

Authorities are warning residents within the zone to urgently prepare their homes, boats and cyclone kits for the severe event.<\/p>\n

Hurricane-force winds<\/p>\n

Tropical Cyclone Narelle is the latest severe weather system to impact parts of Queensland<\/a> in less than two months.<\/p>\n

A hurricane-force wind warning has been issued for the Peninsula and Cooktown coasts, and a gale warning for the Cairns coast.<\/p>\n

BOM has predicted heavy to locally intense rainfall to develop across the far north and north tropical coasts today, with wind gusts of up to 160km\/h from Lockhart River to Cape Flattery.<\/p>\n

Cooktown may also be forced to endure the high winds if the system’s path shifts slightly south.<\/p>\n

Gale-force winds of up to 120km\/h are also forecast.<\/p>\n

This rainfall could lead to flash flooding between Cape Melville and Cape Tribulation.<\/p>\n

Damaging waves and dangerous flooding are expected at Princess Charlotte Bay, with a “dangerous storm tide” likely as Narelle approaches.<\/p>\n

As it crosses the Cape York Peninsula, Tropical Cyclone Narelle is predicted to weaken to category two strength before heading into the Gulf of Carpentaria, where it is expected to re-strengthen over warm waters.<\/p>\n

It is predicted to make landfall for a second time in the Northern Territory over the weekend and possibly in Western Australia next week.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Western Cape York Peninsula towns, including Weipa, are expected to experience a category two system.\u00a0 (ABC Far North: Brendan Mounter)<\/p>\n

‘Right up there with the worst’<\/p>\n

In Cooktown, lure-shop owner and commander of the local coast guard, Russell Bowman, has been busy helping shift boats to safer waters.<\/p>\n

About a dozen boats were moved further up the Endeavour River on Wednesday, with about 20 more still to go on Thursday.<\/p>\n

“We’ve been through bad events before, but this is probably right up there with the worst we’ll be facing, hopefully in this lifetime,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Coastguard commander Russell Bowman fears Tropical Cyclone Narelle could be the worst storm his town ever faces. (ABC News: Christopher Testa)<\/p>\n

Mr Bowman said the prospect of a category four cyclone was a nervy one, even for a town used to severe weather.<\/p>\n

“A three is about the closest we’ve had, but not a direct hit,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Bowman planned to spend the night on a coastguard boat as the cyclone hit.<\/p>\n

“It’s a very sleepless night, and you just hope you don’t get that rogue log coming down the river, or a line snap, or someone else’s line snap,” he said.<\/p>\n

“So much can go right, and there’s so much that can go wrong in a heartbeat.”<\/p>\n

Remote communities band together<\/p>\n

Towns have been evacuated, schools shut, and flights cancelled across the Cape York Peninsula as residents prepare.<\/p>\n

The 200 residents of Coen, 550km north of Cairns, have been buying food and emergency supplies from the local store.<\/p>\n

Residents in the Northern Cape region have been told to store water as the Coen water treatment plant will be shut down.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Residents of Cape York town Coen have made preparations for Tropical Cyclone Narelle. (ABC News: Casey Briggs)<\/p>\n

“I’m quite nervous, a bit scared, a bit worried \u2014 worried about our old people, worried about our country,” Southern Kaanju, Ayapathu, Umpila and Lama Lama woman and Coen community leader Donna Creek said.<\/p>\n

“Everybody is out and about, fuelling up their cars \u2026 fuelling up their generators, stocking up on all their emergency goods.”<\/p>\n

Though the town is in a cyclone-prone region, Ms Creek said she was worried older homes might not withstand the gusts, which could be the most severe conditions experienced at Coen in many years.<\/p>\n

“The elders were saying over 60 years ago, there was a big cyclone that actually did tremendous damage here in Coen,” Ms Creek said.<\/p>\n

Coen Regional Aboriginal Corporation has provided locals with emergency packs that included torches, food and water ahead of the cyclone.<\/p>\n

Several schools across the region have closed for Thursday and Friday, and airline Hinterland Aviation has cancelled flights to Coen and Lockhart River on Friday.<\/p>\n

\"portrait<\/p>\n

Cook Shire Council mayor Robyn Holmes says Port Stewart has been evacuated. (ABC News: Conor Byrne)<\/p>\n

Cook Shire Council Mayor Robyn Holmes said community members were being encouraged to stay with relatives or attend the local wellbeing centre, as Coen did not have a cyclone shelter.<\/p>\n

“The safest building there is the Community Wellbeing Centre,” she said.<\/p>\n

“If anyone doesn’t feel safe, there will be provisions made.”<\/p>\n

The coastal community of Port Stewart, which has fewer than 20 people, was evacuated on Wednesday, with residents taken to Coen.<\/p>\n

“It’s not a huge community \u2026 but it doesn’t really matter, it’s still really important that they get treated equally,” Cr Holmes said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Aurukun is on the western side of Cape York and can be cut off by road for several months during the wet season. (ABC News: Billy Cooper)<\/p>\n

To the west, local leaders in the remote Cape York Peninsula town of Aurukun said the community was well prepared for the severe weather.<\/p>\n

“We’ve got plenty of fuel, we’ve got plenty of food, we’ve purchased six new backup generators,” Aurukun Council chief executive Jack Dempsey said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tropical Cyclone Narelle may now cross the Far North Queensland coast as a category five system, delivering wind…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":549396,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,61838,6884,270870,170032,44],"class_list":["post-549395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bom","tag-bureau-of-meteorology","tag-cyclone-narelle","tag-cyclone-warning","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/549396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}