Cyclone Narelle: Storm downgraded; makes landfall between Lockhart River and Cape Melville as towns evacuated along Queensland’s northern tip

Thank you for joining us for our live coverage of Tropical Cyclone Narelle as it struck the Queensland coast earlier today.

If you live in the impact zone or know people who do, please stay safe keep updated with warnings from the Bureau of Meteorology and emergency services.

Tropical Cyclone Narelle has been downgraded to a category 2 system as it heads towards the small town of Aurukun.

An update from the Bureau of Meteorology just before 5pm on Friday showed wind speeds of 100km/h. Gusts of 140km/h were still being recorded.

The cyclone was travelling at 18km/h towards Aurukun on the west coast of the peninsula, where about 1000 people live.

It is still expected to move into the Gulf of Carpentaria tonight, before strengthening again to a severe tropical cyclone and impacting the eastern Northern Territory from late Saturday.

Premier David Crisafulli said he had been called by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday morning, who had passed on his best wishes.

“I think that’s something I want to acknowledge and say thank you too,” he said, also thanking all of the councils in the area.

“We promised people we would be on the ground, we promised we’d see this through, we promised there’d be no daylight between response and recovery and that is exactly what people are going to see.”

The cyclone is continuing to weaken as its path west becomes clearer.

It is currently about 100 kilometres north-west of Coen, and is expected to track between Aurukun and Weipa this evening as a category 2 system.

“Destructive wind gusts are still possible near the core of this system,” Matthew Collopy from the Bureau of Meteorology said.

He added heavy rain was a major concern, with more than 300 millimetres already recorded in some areas.

“Heavy to intense rainfall is still occurring, and even after the system moves off the west coast, there is the potential for heavy rain and the water that has fallen will then flow into rivers and creeks.

“The potential for flash and riverine flooding continues.”

State Disaster Co-ordinator Chris Stream has urged people not to drive in floodwater, saying it was too dangerous for emergency services in some areas to respond.

“Do not let stupidity shorten your life. Driving into flood water can have fatal consequences and can place emergency service responders and others at risk,” he said.

He said helicopter patrols were starting to get up in the air on the east coast, with response to continue into the night and into tomorrow.

The premier is giving an update on Cyclone Narelle, saying the route of the system so far has been an “incredibly good news story”.

David Crisafulli is speaking from the Kedron Emergency Services Complex in Brisbane, but said earlier on Friday he was planning to head to the impacted area in Far North Queensland in coming days.

The cyclone crossed the coast between Lockhart River and Coen on Friday morning.

“It’s threaded a needle between both,” the Premier said.

“Whilst there is some damage that we’ve seen, and some rain and some wind, that is an incredibly good news story. Incredibly good news story.

“I want to reiterate, the system is now moving to the western side of the cape, and that area will experience strong winds.”

Power is out in multiple towns, and repairs could take some time in remote areas.

Police said more than 1000 people were without electricity at one point on Friday, but the Ergon Energy outage map showed that figure had dropped significantly by 2pm.

Cooktown, Lockhart River, Coen, Hope Vale, Ayton, Rossville, Bloomfield and Wujal Wujal were among the impacted towns.

Cairns District Disaster Co-ordinator Kevin Fitzgibbon said communities, particularly on the west coast of the peninsula, could be impacted for hours more.

“Those communities need to remain vigilant,” he said.

“The system still is a powerful system.”