Australia Weather News

The Bureau of Meteorology is warning a tropical low will bring heavy rainfall and a possible cyclone to Queensland's north tropical coast as it approaches the mainland over coming days.

A deluge saw roads cut and communities isolated in north Queensland around Ingham this week, and floodwater is still draining from the area.

Tropical Low 29U in the northern Coral Sea is expected to cross the Queensland coast between Cooktown and Townsville on Thursday or Friday.

There is a 30 per cent chance the system could develop to a category one cyclone, but no track map has been issued yet.

The next two cyclone names are Narelle and Owen, with a tropical low off the WA coast possibly developing into a cyclone before the Queensland system.

Senior meteorologist Shane Kennedy said rainfall totals up to 100 millimetres were expected between Cooktown and Ingham on Thursday and Friday.

He added that isolated falls of 300mm were possible for the region, which is already subject to a flood watch.

"Catchments are very wet … we're likely to see some river rises particularly on Thursday and Friday and potentially into the weekend," Mr Kennedy said.

"We expect similar impacts to the north-east tropical coast, whether it stays as a tropical low or manages to develop into a category one tropical cyclone.

"The rainfall is likely to be very similar. We may have increased winds, but regardless, there is potential to see strong gale-force winds over those waters."

The flooded Bruce Highway reopened north of Ingham on Tuesday after truckies and travellers spent Monday night stranded.

Floodwater is still draining throughout the region, where some residents remain isolated by surface water or inundated roads.

Mr Kennedy said the region would see a "lull" before the low arrived, with heavy rainfall contracting north in the meantime.

The highest totals observed in Queensland in the 24 hours to Tuesday afternoon were along the Daintree Coast.

"Particularly around the Mossman area, where we did see some areas getting just over 200 millimetres of rainfall," Mr Kennedy said.

One weather station in the Daintree received 334mm in the 24 hours to Tuesday morning.

Tropical Low 29U could draw more moisture across catchments under the flood watch area after its expected landfall.

"Across the weekend, we are expecting Tropical Low 29U to move across land, but it may draw deep moisture in across a broad part of the state," Mr Kennedy said.

"Eastern districts potentially all the way down to the south-east may see an increase in rainfall late this week and across the weekend."

Weeks of flooding out west

In western and south-western Queensland, catchments remain in flood after heavy rain last week.

Mr Kennedy said it would take some time for water to drain through inland areas.

"We had significant rainfall in December that continued through January over parts of central and western Queensland," he said.

"On top of that ongoing flooding in parts of central and western Queensland, we then had very significant rainfall, particularly over parts of the Northern Territory and parts of far western Queensland last week that has led to major flood warnings across large parts of western Queensland.

"I expect we will have flood warnings ongoing for several weeks."