\u201cVery heavy to intense rainfall with totals up to 400mm are possible in the cyclone\u2019s core path, leading to rapid flash flooding.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is expected the weather system could reach as far as Western Australia.<\/p>\n
Cyclone Narelle will likely intensify to a category 5 when it makes landfall, with \u201cvery destructive\u201d wind gusts of up to 250km\/h expected.<\/p>\n
The weather system is expected to make landfall in Far North Queensland early on Friday before moving into the Northern Territory and out towards Western Australia, where it is expected to dissipate on Monday.<\/p>\n
Tropical Cyclone Narelle is expected to make landfall on Friday morning. Photo \/ Bureau of Meteorology<\/p>\n
It was expected to intensify from a category 2 cyclone to a category 5 by Friday morning, Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Sue Oakes said on Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s likely that we will have a severe tropical cyclone by this afternoon, that\u2019s a category 3, with further intensification. Friday morning, we\u2019re likely to see a category 5 system off the North Queensland coast,\u201d Oakes said.<\/p>\n
She said it would likely have \u201csevere impacts\u201d on Far North Queensland in the coming days, with Narelle expected to cross the coast as a \u201cvery intense system\u201d on Friday morning.<\/p>\n
Oakes said \u201cvery destructive\u201d winds were likely within the cyclone\u2019s core as the system crosses the coast on Friday, with wind gust estimates of between 200km\/h and 250km\/h.<\/p>\n
\u201cNoting that\u2019s the intense core around the eye of the system, with the destructive winds extending out from that core,\u201d Oakes said.<\/p>\n
Heavy and intense rain with the risk of flash flooding is also anticipated.<\/p>\n
Cyclone \u2018not opportunity for TikTok moment\u2019<\/p>\n
Queensland\u2019s state disaster co-ordinator, Chris Stream, said the state \u201chas not seen a cyclone of this intensity for some time\u201d, urging locals not to underestimate the potential for loss of life.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not an opportunity for you to be outside during the cyclone, getting that TikTok moment. Do not do it,\u201d Stream warned.<\/p>\n
\u201cA piece of debris being propelled at 100km\/h or more will likely kill you, so do not be outside as the cyclone, in particular, a category 5 event, passes over.\u201d<\/p>\n
Queensland Premier David Crisafulli said the window to act is \u201cclosing\u201d, urging locals to take precautionary measures.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe situation is evolving. It\u2019s a serious situation, and the window to act is obviously closing, which is why we\u2019re doing this well before a large tropical cyclone,\u201d Crisafulli said.<\/p>\n
He warned that this system could be the biggest \u201cin living memory\u201d for many people.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople in these communities are very resilient … and that\u2019s why we\u2019re asking people to prepare for waves, for wind, for rainfall, for flooding, but communities will get through it if they do those preparations,\u201d Crisafulli continued.<\/p>\n
Nearly 50 extra police officers are going into the area, while an additional 74 members from the Queensland Fire Rescue Service have also been brought in.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, we\u2019re asking people to do the right thing and limit the need for those rescues, but it\u2019s really important to know that they have been prepositioned,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A watch zone is in place for the Central Peninsula and Northern Tropical Coast, including Port Douglas, Lockhart River, and Weipa.<\/p>\n
Narelle is due to continue westward from the northeast Queensland coast on Friday, moving across the Cape York Peninsula and into the Gulf of Carpentaria.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs it crosses the Cape York Peninsula, Narelle is likely to weaken. However, it is expected to remain a tropical cyclone,\u201d the bureau\u2019s warning states.<\/p>\n
Senior meteorologist Jonathan How earlier said Narelle was the 10th tropical cyclone to be named during Australia\u2019s cyclone season.<\/p>\n
How said the cyclone has the potential to \u201cstrengthen again\u201d as it crosses the Gulf of Carpentaria before it makes its second landfall over the Northern Territory, which has already experienced severe flooding this month.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can expect gale-force winds within the next 24 hours. At this stage, gale to damaging winds will start from around Thursday morning. We\u2019ll see gusts of 120km\/h, initially between Lockhart River and Cape Melville, and then extending southward to Port Douglas by Thursday afternoon and into Thursday night,\u201d How said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe could see very destructive wind gusts of more than 200km\/h near the centre of the system as it does cross the coast. Winds of this strength do have the ability to cause significant damage to property, vehicles, trees and power lines.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe could even see some pockets of heavy falls all the way down to Cairns. The heaviest rain is expected near the tropical cyclone\u2019s crossing on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cSix-hourly rainfall rates are likely to exceed 100 to 150mm an hour. This will produce dangerous flash flooding and rapid river rises, and we do have a flood watch current for much of northern Queensland.\u201d<\/p>\n
Large tides and dangerous coastal storm surges are also expected.<\/p>\n
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor\u2019s Picks<\/a>, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-chief Murray Kirkness picks the week\u2019s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cVery heavy to intense rainfall with totals up to 400mm are possible in the cyclone\u2019s core path, leading…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337835,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[85,14227,124,33959,528,19876,2082,42,302,180842,43,529,1523,26525,3654,180843,21713,7192,61683,40,38,41,39,19030,3807,3457,18980],"class_list":["post-337834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-australia","tag-category","tag-could","tag-cyclone","tag-far","tag-flooding","tag-for","tag-headlines","tag-its","tag-narelle","tag-news","tag-north","tag-over","tag-pulled","tag-queensland","tag-reintensify","tag-ridge","tag-risk","tag-subtropical","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-tropical","tag-west","tag-western","tag-winds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}