Residents are being warned to watch out for strong surf and abnormally high tides on Sunday. Photo / Sky News
Residents are being warned to watch out for strong surf and abnormally high tides on Sunday. Photo / Sky News
While Norfolk island residents have been “extremely fortunate” to avoid the worst of a tropical cyclone, other parts of the Austrralia are bracing for different kinds of threats.
Inhabitants of the tiny Pacific Island are beginning to clean up after wild winds and heavy rain left a path of destructionwith more warnings of damaging surf and abnormally high tides in place on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Queensland is set to swelter through its hottest temperatures in more than a year.
The Bureau of Meteorology on Sunday issued a heatwave warning for the sunshine state’s Central Coast and Whitsundays, Capricornia, Central Highlands and Coalfields, and Wide Bay and Burnett Districts.
The mercury is expected to pass 39C in areas surrounding Ipswich for the first time since December 2020.
Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle is tipped to pass on or very close to Norfolk Island. Photo / Bureau of Meteorology
High humidity will make the state feel even hotter.
While the heat will be severe, it’s expected to cool by Monday as a cooler onshore wind change arrives prompting widespread rain and storms on Tuesday.
An extreme fire danger warning has also been issued for residents in the Darling Downs and Granite Belt District as hot temperatures and fresh winds increase danger in the area.
Norfolk Island was hit hard by 102km/h winds on Saturday, as the eye of the category two storm passed near the centre of the island, bringing down trees and leaving residents without power.
On Sunday morning, Emergency Management Norfolk Island issued the all clear alert, and said the approximately 2000 residents of had been lucky the worst of the storm had narrowly avoided the island.
“We have been extremely fortunate with the passage of the cyclone as the most destructive winds have just missed us,” EMNI said on Sunday.
“However there is still considerable clean-up to be undertaken and it may take a while before services such as power can be restored.”
EMNI said the storm passed the island on Saturday night and had now transitioned to a tropical low, and is now about 185 km east south east of the island.
Sky Weather predicted the storm to just miss New Zealand’s North Island, before moving off the country’s east coast.
On Sunday the Bureau of Meteorology cancelled its cyclone warning for the island, but warned residents damaging surf was likely to continue through Sunday.
Residents are being warned to watch out for strong surf and abnormally high tides on Sunday. Photo / Sky News
On Saturday, local resident Alex McGillycuddy told the ABC the weather was getting “hectic” and had brought down three banana trees and two roadside trees.
Gale force winds are no longer expected for the island on Sunday.
