Australia Weather News

Waves of up to eight metres have been recorded off southern Queensland beaches overnight as the effects of ex-Tropical Cyclone Linda continue to be felt.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said abnormally high tides were no longer expected to impact southern Queensland and cancelled its severe weather warning shortly after 11:00am AEST.

But the BOM said large and powerful swells would continue to impact exposed beaches around Fraser Island and south to the New South Wales border today.

Forecaster Sam Campbell said conditions were expected to ease this afternoon.

"We've seen some waves up to eight metres at the Mooloolah buoy overnight, seven metres around the Brisbane buoy, up to five metres around the Gold Coast buoy, but pretty far off shore though so it's not really affecting the coast directly aside from those big waves," Mr Campbell said.

"We're just seeing a few showers coming in, and the odd gust getting up to 80 kilometres per hour at Double Island Point."

At 10:30am, ex-Tropical Cyclone Linda was located in the Coral Sea about 330 kilometres east-northeast of Fraser Island, moving southwards at 10 kilometres per hour.

The first day of the Queensland Surf Life Saving Championships tomorrow has been shifted from Maroochydore to Mooloolaba in the interests of safety.

At Kirra on the southern Gold Coast early this morning, organisers of the World Surf League event at Snapper Rocks tweeted video of "big" swell rolling in, backed by the storm system further out to sea.

The Commonwealth Games organising committee GOLDOC said the gale-force winds and big surf yesterday did not interrupt preparations for upcoming events, with contingencies built in for inclement weather.

Disaster assistance announced for flooded towns

The Queensland Government is making disaster assistance available for areas of north-western Queensland, affected by recent heavy rains and flooding.

The relief program has been extended to Barcaldine, Cloncurry, Flinders, Longreach, McKinlay, Mount Isa, Richmond and Winton.

The money will come from the jointly funded Commonwealth and State Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements.

Emergency Services Minister Craig Crawford said the cost of rebuilding in the state's north-west is likely to run into the tens of millions of dollars.

"Councils now know that they can go and do the rebuild of their roads, of their core infrastructure, and they can then work with the Queensland Reconstruction Authority and they can be reimbursed for what they have to outlay," he said.

"I've inspected damage in these communities and met with several mayors to discuss how we can continue working together to help get these areas back on their feet and back to normality as soon as possible."