This sort of came out of nowhere and hasn't hit the news or the council website yet; if you or family live in FNQ they need to prepare for a category 2 crossing early tomorrow morning! Just watched the ABC weather update and they still have it marked as a low pressure system.

DESTRUCTIVE WINDS with gusts to 130 km/h may develop about coastal and island areas between Cape Flattery and Cairns from early Monday morning as the cyclone approaches.

GALES with gusts to 120km/h may develop about coastal and island areas between Cape Melville and Cardwell from Sunday evening. These GALES may extend inland to Palmerville and Chillagoe on Monday as the cyclone moves inland.

HEAVY RAINFALL is forecast to develop about coastal and adjacent inland areas between Cape Flattery and Cardwell from Sunday afternoon. A Flood Watch is current for this area; refer to that product for more detail.

Flooding is a risk but a storm surge in addition to rainfall flooding seems unlikely:

ABNORMALLY HIGH TIDES are likely on Sunday night and Monday as the cyclone approaches, however they are unlikely to exceed the highest tide of the year.

http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDQ65002.shtml

Also its been raining a fair bit lately with the monsoon, so the rivers are already up and the land inundated. Local flooding in the usual areas is almost certain.

tablelands is a nice spot!

Its also pretty cheap at the moment to visit because of 'the virus'. A 2021 winter holiday in Cairns is warm, cheap, fun, and no cyclones will f*** it up for you.

Looks like its gonna bash the people somewhere between Innisfail/Cardwell/Tully yet again. At least anything still standing in that region after Larry and Yasi should hold up to a strong cat 2 pretty easily.

cairns is better in june :)