A hard rain’s gonna fall: BOM says we’ll feel effects of Kirrily tonight; big wet to follow
The effects of Tropical Cyclone Kirrily may be felt as early as the coming 24 hours.
After days of anticipation, an escalating tropical low over the Coral Sea is due to officially become a cyclone late on Tuesday.
A “severe impact” is likely, with the system possibly intensifying to a category three before hitting the Queensland coast.
“Sustained gale-force winds, winds up to 120km/h, heavy rainfall and flash flooding are all possible,” meteorologist Miriam Bradbury said.
“This may bring down trees and power lines, cause property damage, closing roads and access routes and potentially even lead to power failures.”
Far north Queensland is still recovering from record flooding caused by December’s Tropical Cyclone Jasper, which was a category two system when it crossed the coast.
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Premier Steven Miles said the state’s emergency services had been stretched by back-to-back disasters.
“We dealt with two disasters during December and now expect possibly two more over the coming weekend,” Mr Miles told Nine on Tuesday morning.
“We’ve worked really hard to give our emergency services … a break between those disasters to roster them off on fatigue leave so that they’re ready to go again.
“We will need assistance from other states and from the Australian government.”
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The latest cyclone is predicted to make landfall on Thursday, south of Townsville but residents from Innisfail to Airlie Beach have been told to brace.
“Keep your car topped up with petrol, make sure you have a power pack for your phone, as when we see events like this that do cross the coast, it’s up to 72 hours sometimes before emergency services can get out and assist you,” state disaster coordinator Shane Chelepy said.
By Friday the system is expected to return to tropical low status, set to trigger heavy inland rainfall that may track toward southeast Queensland on the weekend.
“Even as the rainfall eases we’re likely to see widespread flooding impacts following this system moving inland as the tropical low does,” Ms Bradbury said.
With a public holiday on Friday, Commissioner Chelepy urged anyone with long weekend plans to keep up to date with weather warnings.
“We are aware that a lot of people will be on our roads and through our campgrounds,” he said.
“It is absolutely critical … if you are between Innisfail right down to the Sunshine Coast and southeast Queensland that you stay connected.”
