Tropical Cyclone Megan is due to make landfall in the Northern Territory on Monday.
Residents in the Northern Territory and Queensland have been warned to plan for an emergency ahead of"severe" Tropical Cyclone Megan making landfall on Monday evening.The cyclone has been upgraded to category 3, with sustained winds near the centre of the storm reaching 130 kilometres an hour.
Meanwhile, wind gusts, which are spontaneous changes in the wind speed, are consistently hitting 185 kilometres an hour. A warning zone has been declared for Alyangula and stretching to the edge of Mornington Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria. The Bureau of Meteorology issued an alert at 3.30am on Monday morning, warning coastal residents of “damaging waves” and “dangerous flooding”, and “intense rainfall” for Monday with the likelihood to continue into Tuesday. Severe Tropical Cyclone Megan is now a Category 3 system, slowly moving south towards the southern Gulf of Carpentaria coast. The system is forecast to make a coastal crossing on Monday.Cyclone Megan has a “very destructive core” with wind gusts set to increase to more than 200 kilometres an hour as it makes landfall. As of 11am on Monday the cyclone was impacting the Sir Edward Pellew Group, the island cluster off the coast of the Northern Territory, and will sweep into adjacent coastal areas between Bing Bong and Mornington Island throughout the day. Sky News Meteorologist Rob Sharpe said the storm had already breached land with the eye of the storm sweeping over the Pellew Group of islands, lashing Centre Island with more than 200mm of rain. "Right now we are seeing the most dangerous weather for this stretch of coastline, but for the areas further inland it could be a long road ahead, and for of those roads will be cut off, courtesy of the flooding impacts, we're expecting as this season crawls inland, over regions which that have already seen the impact of a tropical cyclone through the wet season," Sharpe said.Sky News Meteorologist Rob Sharpe said the storm had already breached land. Picture: Sky News Australia In just 48 hours, the cyclone has brought more than 680mm of rainfall, more than half of the average annual rainfall for the Groote Eylandt area. The Northern Territory Emergency Service advise communities to “enact your household emergency plan now” and to “check on your neighbours”. Residents are also told to “not leave pets inside” and to “turn of all power” if leaving home to seek a safer area. People residing in areas between the border and Mornington Island are told to remain inside until the cyclone has passed. People residing in areas between the border and Mornington Island are told to remain inside until the cyclone has passed. Picture: WeatherZone Senior meteorologist Miriam Bradbury said as the cyclone approaches the coast they tend to slow down and “waver” which makes it difficult to anticipate the exact location of landfall. “At this stage we are expecting it between the Northern Territory and Queensland border and Nathan River some time later today, most likely in the afternoon,” she said. “Residents, communities in those areas, as much as possible, should stay on top of those track maps as they’re updated and stay in touch with emergency services on how to respond to and prepare for this risk.” Big falls are anticipated for much of the coastal area and into Queensland with flood watches covering most of the northern parts of the Northern Territory and the Sunshine State. “What the flood watch tells us is that we’re anticipating river rises, we’re anticipating water over the roads, we’re anticipating flooding in those areas thanks to the rainfall from the system,” Ms Bradbury said.
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