Neville and Olga may have got cold feet as they skirted the QLD coast, but the ex-tropical cyclones continue to impact the tropics with heavy rain and flash flooding from Cooktown to St Lawrence.
Over the weekend, Olga, then a tropical cyclone, moved rapidly towards the QLD coast and as she approached ex TC Neville she overpowered the system and forced it to move south. This sort of movement is known as “fujiwhara” and describes the orbiting of two low pressure systems around one another when they’re in the same region. Olga didn’t actually cross the QLD coast yesterday as widely reported. Rather, Olga brushed the coast and was downgraded to a tropical low yesterday. Ex TC Olga crossed the coast early this morning and is currently sitting over the Atherton Tablelands. She is expected to move westwards and may re-develop into a tropical cyclone once again if she crosses the warm waters in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Following her stint in the Gulf, Olga is then predicted to return to the inland with major flooding possible for outback QLD. A Cyclone Watch is current for the southern Gulf of Carpentaria coast and islands from Port McArthur to Burketown
Meanwhile, ex TC Neville is lingering around the central coast bringing heavy rain. In just 24 hours, towns inland of Mackay were saturated by up to 200mm and there's more on the way. A severe weather warning for flash flooding has been issued for people in the Herbert and Burdekin and Central Coast districts.
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