Cyclone Nathan to intensify: BOM
Cyclone Nathan will intensify into a category three system on Thursday, the Bureau of Meteorology expects.
The storm was about 205km northeast of Cooktown just before 5pm on Wednesday and was heading towards the coast about 14km/h, with gusts up to 130km/h.
The Bureau of Meteorology anticipates Cyclone Nathan, which was a category two on Wednesday afternoon, will intensify on Thursday before going back out to sea.
Very destructive winds are expected to batter Queensland's coastline between Cape Flattery and Cape Melville, north of Cooktown, from Thursday morning.
Heavy rain and flash flooding are also expected, and abnormally high tides could develop along the coast.
ABC reports that far north Queensland coastal communities are making final preparations before the cyclone.
A flood watch is in place for coastal catchments, north of Cardwell.
The system has dumped more than 280 millimetres of rain on the ranges near Tully, south of Cairns, since 9:00am on Tuesday.
"At the moment we're anticipating that it won't actually cross the coast but it will continue to deepen as it gets closer towards the coast, sort of more or less due east of Cape Flattery," BoM spokesman Bill O'Connor said.
Senior forecaster Sam Campbell said the system was expected to intensify into a category three by Thursday, but was not predicted to cross the coast.
"It will slow down during Thursday and just become near stationary Thursday night," he said.
"Then on Friday we're expecting it to make a U-turn and start heading back out to the east away from the coast."
He said far north Queensland could expect to be battered by gales and heavy rain.
"We are still likely to see some impacts with that system so we have a warning out for gales between Coen and Cape Tribulation and they're likely to develop in the next 24 hours," he said.
"I'd say widespread rainfall totals of 200 to 350 millimetres from today onwards to Friday - that's the totals for all those days combined together with some isolated falls in excess of 400mm."
Communities urged to prepare, Lizard island evacuated
Emergency crews are on alert and far north Queensland residents are being warned not to be complacent as the cyclone moves closer to the coast.
Disaster management groups between Cairns and Hope Vale are now on heightened alert and ready to respond to localised flooding and wind damage.
The Harbour Master has issued an extreme weather event warning for the Cooktown and Cape Flattery Ports and a watch is in place for Port Douglas.
The region's disaster coordinator, Acting Chief Superintendent Brett Schafferius, said Lizard Island, off the coast of Cape York Peninsula, had been evacuated as a precaution.
"That's a really sound decision I think on behalf of the management on the island - it's far better to be safe in the situation," he said.
"The tracking map that we have and the forecast that we have is maybe tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon Nathan will do a U-turn and head back out, but it's really good to take these steps beforehand."
He said communities were well prepared but he urged people not to enter floodwaters.
"The amount of rain that we get from these systems can really cause the creeks and rivers to flow very high, very quickly," he said.
Lyle Vail from the Lizard Island Research station, north-east of Cooktown, said winds were picking up and 22 staff were being evacuated, but he was one of 15 who would be staying.
"We've decided to stay, given the forecast for a category three and then hopefully turning away from us before it actually hits," he said.
"The buildings are all pretty modern here and they're rated to a very high cyclone level so we feel pretty comfortable with that decision.
"We've secured everything pretty well as best we can."
Cook Shire Mayor Peter Scott urged locals to take precautions.
"At this stage it still looks like we could get some really good rain so I guess that means some of the access roads around the place could be cut off," he said.
"I suppose that's the prudent thing for people to do now is to make sure that their places aren't going to get flooded if they can help it, and have enough food and water and an emergency kit in place."
Queensland Fire and Emergency Service spokesman Wayne Coutts said residents in the Cairns region can also expect heavy rain and now is the time to make final preparations.
"Only a month or six weeks ago there was quite a bit of rain and flooding in the area, so if you were affected by that rain, if you were flooded and your roof was leaking, now might be a great opportunity to take steps to make sure you get through this next lot of rain," he said.
"We just want to make sure that we're getting the message out there and people are paying attention, heeding the warnings, and watching the development and we've got to make sure that people do watch," he said.
"Remember Marcia was able to spin up fairly rapidly - those sorts of things can happen."
He said extra crews and equipment had been sent to the far north.
"We're pre-deploying swift water rescue teams to that location so two teams will go up and they'll be ready in case there's flooding across that area," he said.
"There's also an incident control team that will be there in case anything does ramp up."
Cassowary Coast Mayor Bill Shannon said the region between Cairns and Townsville might see its first flooding in years next week.
"I'm not expecting any major dramas, but ... we'll obviously talk [with emergency authorities] about the present circumstances, as well as all of our normal preparatory work with our normal plans," he said.
