Severe Weather Update 19 February 2024: Rain and flooding with Ex-Tropical Cyclone Lincoln

Australian Community Media

Severe Weather Update: Rain and flooding across parts of northern Australia along the path of ex-Tropical Cyclone Lincoln. Video current: 10am AWST 19 February 2024 Courtesy: Bureau of Meteorology

Transcript

00:00 Rain and flooding continue across parts of northern Australia along the path of

00:05 ex-tropical cyclone Lincoln and the story isn't over yet with

00:09 reintensification to tropical cyclone strength possible late this week.

00:14 Ex-tropical cyclone Lincoln is currently located close to the Western Australia

00:18 Northern Territory border. It's dragging in moisture from the tropics generating

00:23 cloud, rain and thunderstorms. In the past 24 hours alone we've seen rainfall

00:29 totals in excess of 100 millimeters through parts of the central NT and

00:33 we're expecting more rainfall in the days ahead. Our current severe weather

00:38 warning is centered around the ex-tropical cyclone. It covers Lajamanu

00:42 and extends west to Halls Creek. In the warning area we could see heavy rainfall

00:46 and flash flooding with six hourly rainfall totals approaching 100

00:50 millimeters and so much rainfall coming down in such a short space of time can

00:55 cause your property damage and can quickly impact roads and access routes

01:00 as well making them muddy or impassable. We may also see strong winds in the

01:05 vicinity of the ex-tropical cyclone but the immediate risk of damaging winds has

01:10 now eased. So how will the system track through the rest of today and over the

01:14 coming days? Well today we're expecting ex-tropical cyclone Lincoln to gradually

01:20 cross the Western Australia border and move into the Kimberley. Through tomorrow

01:24 and Wednesday the ex-tropical cyclone will move west-northwest through the

01:29 Kimberley driving areas of heavy rainfall, stronger winds and flash

01:34 flooding with it. It's likely to cross off the Kimberley coast late Wednesday

01:40 going into Thursday. Now the rainfall totals we're expecting across this

01:44 period are going to be highest to the south of the ex-tropical cyclone

01:50 reaching 1 to 300 millimeters across parts of Western Northern Territory and

01:55 the Kimberley. This amount of rainfall expected in the coming days has

02:00 triggered flood watches across large parts of Northern Australia in

02:04 particular covering the Kimberley, the WA Northern Territory border area and large

02:10 parts of the Central Northern Territory. River rises are expected with catchments

02:15 likely to be upgraded into flood warnings at times over the coming days.

02:19 It's worth noting that the flood watch actually extends back to the east into

02:23 northwest Queensland as well. Even though the ex-tropical cyclone has moved

02:28 westwards now and that risk of heavy rainfall is easing, we still could see

02:33 high flows from past rain events moving through these Queensland catchments

02:38 causing further flood warnings over the coming days. It's worth remembering that

02:43 large parts of Western Queensland are still seeing moderate to major flooding

02:47 at the moment. So where will the ex-tropical cyclone move once it crosses

02:52 the Kimberley coast? Through Thursday and the end of the week we're expecting to

02:57 see the system moving down the Kimberley coast. As it moves over those warm waters

03:02 it's likely to increase its energy and its power and there is actually a high

03:07 chance it may strengthen back to tropical cyclone intensity at this point

03:11 in the week. That means even heavier rainfall and stronger winds that may

03:16 impact some coastal parts of Western Australia depending on how far offshore

03:20 this system is. Through Friday and going towards the weekend the system is likely

03:26 to start moving southwards towards the west coast once more and it is possible

03:31 through the weekend that we may see a second landfall of this system, possibly

03:37 at cyclone strength. There are still a number of possibilities as to how

03:41 strong this system will get and where exactly it will track so it is really

03:45 important to keep an eye on the Bureau's seven-day tropical cyclone forecasts. In

03:50 fact all of the latest forecasts and warnings can be found via the Bureau's

03:53 website and the BOM weather app. Stay safe this week, keep on top of the

03:58 updates and we'll catch you next time.

04:01 (upbeat music)

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