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Cyclone Kimi has weakened to a tropical low off north Queensland, but emergency services are warning of possible flooding and another cyclone could form as early as next week.
Coastal residents have been spared the worst after the cyclone weakened from a category two system to a storm, sitting 135km north of Townsville, on Tuesday morning.
The Bureau of Meteorology says the system still has wind gusts of up to 95km/h and will bring heavy downpours to the region with a flood warning for rivers between Innisfail and Bowen on Tuesday and Wednesday.
While Ex-Tropical #CycloneKimi has weakened into a tropical low there are still impacts to be felt from rainfall and strong winds in the North Tropical Coast as the Bureau continues to monitor the system presently offshore. Stay up to date with #QLDweatherhttps://t.co/hL595b01Egpic.twitter.com/u6jgI59elA Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM Qld) January 18, 2021
Parts of Queensland are bracing for flash flooding and abnormally high tides as Cyclone Kimi continues its erratic movement.
The cyclone has weakened to a tropical low off far North Queensland but the Bureau of Meteorology says heavy rainfall is still expected to lash the region. Heavy rainfall with the potential to produce flash flooding and major river flooding may still affect coastal areas between Innisfail and Bowen on Tuesday and Wednesday if the remnant low moves closer to the coast, the Bureau said.
Cyclone Kimi was about 135km from Townsville about 4am AEST on Tuesday, with winds of 65km/h and gusts up to 95km/h.
Emergency services in Queensland have been inundated with calls for assistance following a deluge of heavy rain in parts of the state overnight.
Residents in south-east Queensland face a major clean-up this morning, as pockets south of Brisbane received over 200mm of rain in under five hours.
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SES crews carried out 6 flood rescues overnight, Redland Bay copped 120mm of rain in one hour. (Twitter) Our SES volunteers are currently dealing with about 170 calls for assistance, Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Assistant Commissioner John Bolger told
Today.
Emergency services have urged the community to remain vigilant. Unfortunately, our swift and flood water rescue crews had to attend six separate events where cars were in floodwaters. Some of those were people who chose to drive into the flood water and ended up putting their lives at risk and the lives of our firefighters as well, Mr Bolger said.