Ex-Tropical Cyclone rears ugly head again

Ex-Tropical Cyclone Lincoln is threatening to re-intensify as it moves across the country towards the West Australian coastline, meteorologists warn.

In the north of the country ex-Tropical Cyclone Lincoln is wreaking havoc and a severe weather warning has been issued for people in parts of the Gregory, Tanami and Kimberly districts.

The Bureau of Meteorology has also issued a widespread flood watch for the northern parts of the country, including WA, the Northern Territory and western Queensland regions.

It comes as the Bureau of Meteorology warned there was a high chance ex-Tropical Cyclone Lincoln could redevelop over waters north-west of WA and make landfall in the west Pilbara region.

Meteorologist Angus Hines said said all eyes would be on whether ex-Tropical Cyclone Lincoln could reinensity back to tropical cyclone strength by the end of the week.

“Ex-Tropical Cyclone Lincoln is moving out of the NT and into WA, bringing widespread rainfall and the possibility of flooding to that part of the country,” he said.

“Thursday and Friday brings a high risk. (There’s a) 60 per cent chance of an re-intensification back into a tropical cyclone, which then would become once again Tropical Cyclone Lincoln.

“It could hook back towards WA on Saturday morning, somewhere near Exmouth.

“It’s a little bit too early to talk about how much rain we can expect in this part of the country for that reentrance back onto the land.”

Meanwhile, the bureau said the Gregory and Tanami districts would likely get reprieve by Tuesday afternoon or evening, but the Kimberly district could be dealing with the weather into Wednesday.

“Ex-Tropical Cyclone Lincoln is located between Lajamanu and Halls Creek on the Western Australian side of the border and will continue slowly moving west during the evening to be situated north of Halls Creek on Tuesday,” they said.

“Heavy rainfall which may lead to flash flooding is forecast for the northern Tanami and southern Gregory districts, most likely overnight Monday night and continuing into Tuesday.

“Six-hourly rainfall totals between 60 to 100mm and 24-hourly rainfall totals between 80 to 150mm are likely.

“Isolated 24 hour falls reaching up to 200mm are possible.”

In the Kimberly region, rainfall is likely to reach between 80 and 150mm in a 24 hours period, while isolated 24 hour rainfalls could also reach up to 200mm.

Earlier on Tuesday, the bureau issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the Sydney and the Illawarra districts but cancelled the alert by 3.30pm.

It came as the city was thrown into chaos on Monday afternoon when the fierce weather hit, four people rushed to hospital after being struck by lightning while sheltering from the rain under trees in the Royal Botanic Garden.

There was also commuter chaos with a series of delays at Sydney Airport after a hole was torn in the main runway.

Just before midday, torrential rain started to bucket down over the city, creating mayhem for lunchtime pedestrians.

While forecast for a balmy top of 26 degrees on Tuesday, there is still a “high chance of showers” as well as “the chance of a thunderstorm, possibly severe” and the day will remain mostly cloudy.

The Bureau of Meteorology has not released any fresh warnings akin to the severity of Monday’s weather, but Sydneysiders have been warned to stay vigilant and up to date as the weather evolves throughout the day.

Lightning struck four people who were sheltering from the rain under a tree on Monday as the worst of the storm battered the city.

Struck at about 12.45pm, all four – a teenage boy, a woman in her 20s, and a man and a woman in their 30s – all had to be taken to hospital from their injuries.

The former two were taken to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and the latter two taken to St Vincents, all of whom were in stable conditions.

Train networks were also impacted by the severe lightning, with the T1 Western and T9 Northern lines shut down for most of the afternoon, leaving hundreds of commuters drenched and stranded.

Replacement buses eventually arrived to ferry the stragglers home.

The chaos extended to Sydney Airport, with one of the runways getting struck by lightning and causing it to be taken offline for about 20 minutes.

As a result, the airport faced significant delays and about 15 departing international and domestic flights had to be cancelled.