Australia Weather News

A category one tropical cyclone is expected to make landfall between Port Douglas and Innisfail late on Monday.

Tropical Cyclone Kimi formed off the Far North Queensland coast on Sunday.

At 10:00pm on Sunday, the Bureau of Meteorology estimated the cyclone was 145 kilometres east-south-east of Cooktown and 155km north-north-east of Cairns.

It is currently a category one system but the bureau warned it may intensify over the next 24 hours and reach at least category two before landfall.

While earlier predictions had it tracking further north, the Bureau said the system had slowed, delaying the crossing time to Monday afternoon.

The cyclone is moving very slowly south at 7 kilometres per hour and it is expected to turn south-south-west towards the coast on Monday.

The bureau said it would likely to reach category two before making landfall.

As the cyclone approached, gusts of 130kph could be felt between Cape Flattery and Cairns.

Forecaster Kimba Wong said the cyclone warning zone stretched from Cape Melville to Cardwell and the adjacent inland, where gusts up to 120kph could be felt from Sunday evening.

"We may start to see destructive wind gusts," she said.

"Certainly a very dynamic system to keep across over the next couple of days."

Ms Wong urged people in the region to make immediate preparations.

"Such as preparing boats and also your property for the approaching system."

BOM warns that rivers could rise rapidly as the area is already saturated from rainfall in the last two weeks.

The region has been on flood watch for the past two days.

Heavy rain is expected from late Sunday and daily rainfall totals between 50 and 100 millimetres are expected.

Ms Wong said the storm would deliver a couple of days of "wet and wild weather", but was expected to weaken rapidly after crossing the coast.