Cyclone Maila on move as flood-weary Far North Queensland watches and waits
Andrew Stafford And Ben McKay
A record-breaking hurricane is expected to finally move towards the Australian coast, putting a flood-weary region back on high alert.
Severe Tropical Cyclone Maila was expected to stall between the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea for several days before slowly turning towards northern Queensland on Thursday.
The category four system is currently producing winds of up to 260 km/h after breaking the record as the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the northern Solomon Sea.
It is expected to weaken over the coming days as it approaches landfall closer to PNG and slowly moves towards the Queensland coast.
However, residents in Queensland’s far north are still wary of the system’s potential impact; The system initially appears to follow a similar path to March’s Hurricane Narelle as it crosses the coast.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Jonathan How said Maila was expected to make landfall between Cooktown and the Lockhart River on Tuesday as a category two system.
“There are still some differences in the exact timing between computer models, but there is increasing confidence that Maila’s path will head towards the northern reaches of the Cape York peninsula,” he said.
“But there are still five days to go, and Maila’s exact path, timing and strength will be affected by many factors before then.”
Maila is on track to pass near where Narelle hit Cape York on March 20 before leaving a trail of damage across the Top End and Western Australia.
After passing northern Australia, it regained strength and crashed into northwestern WA; It peaked as a category four system, destroying buildings, felling trees and triggering floods.
On Thursday, the bureau warned that with the arrival of Maila, Cape York communities could expect further damage from destructive winds, potentially heavy rainfall, flooding and coastal erosion.
Another hurricane could deal a major blow to the region as it continues to clean up Narelle’s mess.
Maila was rated a category five system at one stage before continuing its slow march towards Australia.
Maila’s offshore location has so far kept the most damaging winds away from major population centres.
Footage shows property being destroyed in remote areas of the Solomon Islands’ West and Choiseul provinces.
National broadcaster SIBC reported that three members of a family were missing after a boat capsized in rough seas.
AAP
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