Olga crosses back along northern Queensland coast

Tropical cyclone Olga made landfall last week crossing land in nirthern Queensland and entering the Bay of Carpentaria. The concern was that Olga would strenthen while over the warm waters of the bay. While some slight strengthening has occurred, the storm sis not grow to the level 2 cyclone that existed before making landfall near Cairns.

Olga did "do and about-face" while over the water, however. Olga's track reversed itself nringing heavy rain all along the northern Queensland coast from the Northern Territory border all the way to Karumba.

Today Olga made her second landfall as a low grade tropicla storm near the town of Karumba and is expected to bring heavy rain and flooding from Burketown to Karumba. Weather Underground reports that Olga currently has 40 MPH sustained winds with gusts to 50 MPH.

Cyclone Olga Crosses North Queensland Coast; Flooding Expected (Bloomberg)

Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Tropical Cyclone Olga crossed the northern Queensland coast and is expected to bring flooding to areas between Burketown and Karumba.

The storm, which strengthened from a tropical low to a category-1 cyclone overnight, will bring gales and heavy rain to much of the region, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said on its Web site. Olga was about 60 kilometers (38 miles) southeast of Karumba at 7 a.m. local time, and is expected to ease to a tropical low today as it heads southeast, the bureau said.

Olga first made landfall on Jan. 24 near Cape Tribulation on Queensland’s east coast before traveling west across most of the state.

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The cyclone will likely be followed by “abnormally high tides” between Cape York and the Queensland, Northern Territory border, the weather bureau said. People should avoid the coast and should not attempt to drive through floodwaters, it said.

Olga quickly diminished to an ex-cyclone once again and is now essentially a remnant low pressure system. The remains of Olga are predicted to continue to track to the southest bringing rain to Richmond by tonight and points further south by February 1st before finally dissipating.