Residents in Australia's northeast were bracing for their second destructive cyclone in less than a month as Tropical Cyclone Monica bore down on the coast of Queensland state. The Bureau of Meteorology said Tuesday that Monica was likely to intensify into a category three cyclone as it hit the coast Wednesday packing winds of 200 kilometres an hour (125 miles an hour).
"The very destructive core of Monica with wind gusts up to 200km/h is expected to be near the coast between Lockhart River and Cape Melville late on Wednesday morning," the bureau said in a statement.
The cyclone was expected to hit the coast near the Aboriginal community of Lockhart River on Cape York Peninsula but communities across the sparsely-populated far north of Queensland were advised to batten down.
Island residents in low-lying ares of the Torres Strait, to the north of the mainland, were warned to seek higher ground.
While no evacuations have yet been planned, authorities have told residents to be on standby in case they are ordered to leave their homes.
Monica's arrival comes just three weeks after Cyclone Larry, a superstorm at the maximum category five on the measurement scale, lashed the Queensland coast with winds of up to 290 km/h (180 mph).
Larry devastated the town of Innisfail and caused damage estimated at up to a billion dollars (750 million US) but emergency services were confident Cyclone Monica would not result in similar devastation.
Monica is expected to weaken to a category one storm as it crosses Cape York peninsula and continues to move westward into the Gulf of Carpentaria on Wednesday night.
