Slow-moving Severe Tropical Cyclone Maila heading towards Queensland
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Severe Tropical Cyclone Maila is on the move again today, with the weather system resuming its path towards Far North Queensland.
It is currently sitting about 1300km from Australia but over coming days will gradually head south-west.
The category four system, which is generating wind gusts of up to 260km/h, is forecast to cross the coast from next Monday, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
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Severe Tropical Cyclone Maila is on the move again today, with the weather system resuming its path towards Far North Queensland. 9News
Severe Tropical Cyclone Maila stalled yesterday between Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, but forecasters say it is now moving again towards Queensland at a speed of about 10km/h.
"It is expected to approach the Far North Queensland coast on Sunday and into Monday morning ... confidence is increasing it will move towards Cape York," senior meteorologist Jonathan How said.
How said current modelling pointed to the cyclone making landfall either late next Monday or early Tuesday.
It is forecast to decline to at least a category three cyclone before then.
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The forecast path of Severe Tropical Cyclone Maila on Thursday, April 9. Bureau of Meteorology
The weather system is expected to impact a large area of Far North Queensland between Cooktown and the Lockhart River shire, which was struck by Tropical Cyclone Narelle last month.
"Communities in these areas could see further damaging to destructive winds as well as heavy rainfall and flooding and coastal erosion," How said.
Meanwhile, a second storm, currently a tropical low, is forming in the Indian ocean off to the north-west of Western Australia and Fiji.
The Bureau rates it a moderate chance to attain cyclone status from mid-next week.
Two cyclones have formed over waters near Australia. Weatherzone
A third weather system, Tropical Cyclone Vaianu, is continuing to move southwards today, the Fiji Meteorological Service said.
It is roughly halfway between Fiji and New Zealand with winds of 95km/h near the centre.
It is expected to make landfall on Sunday.
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