What we learned this morning, Friday 26 January
We’re going to wrap up this live blog for now. Here are the key points:
Cyclone Kirrily was downgraded to a category-two system about 10pm last night as the centre of the storm crossed the coast between Townsville and Ingham
Queensland premier Steven Miles says there has been no loss of life and minimal damage to property
64,000 homes and businesses are without power, with that number expected to rise today
The system is moving west and emergency services say their focus has turned to the heavy rain and flooding that may occur over coming days
In New South Wales, morning temperatures in some areas have reached the low to mid 30s. Tocal, north-west of Williamtown in the Hunter region, was the state’s hottest place this morning at 36C. Temperatures in several parts of the state are forecast to reach the high 30s and low 40s.
This isn’t the end of our cyclone coverage, though, any updates throughout the day will be found in our continuing live news blog:
Updated
Flood warnings
Flood watch warnings remain in place for coastal and inland catchments between Tully and Airlie Beach, as well as parts of the central west and gulf catchments.
The Bureau of Meteorology has advised minor to major riverine flooding will be possible across those areas as the system moves west over the coming days.
The BoM said the system had “an extreme amount of moisture” which would produce heavy rainfall and could lead to life-threatening flash flooding and damaging winds.
A “continued monsoon” would remain in far north Queensland for the latter part of next week, BoM said.
Updated
