Tropical Cyclone Penny has reformed after lashing Weipa on Tuesday night but it’s no longer a threat and is moving out sea.

January 2, 2019

Tropical Cyclone Penny has reformed but is heading out to sea and won’t threaten Queensland again.

The cyclone smashed into state’s remote far north on New Year’s Day and there were fears it could regather strength, turn around and do it again.

But late on Wednesday, the redeveloped cyclone was 295 kilometres northeast of Cooktown and moving out sea, the Bureau of Meteorology says.

“The system is too far offshore to be producing any significant impacts along the Queensland coast,” a bureau spokesman said in a statement.

The cyclone is expected to continue moving southeast over the next two days.

Penny hit Weipa with 110km/h winds and heavy rain on Tuesday afternoon – the worst cyclone they have had in more than 20 years.

But the town got off pretty lightly, according to Michael Rowland.

“There are a quite a few trees down and a fair bit of vegetation and branches blown around the town which is to be expected but there are only two houses with minor damage,” the Weipa Town Authority chairman said.

“They tend to roll around in the gulf and come close to us so we do get the effects of them but Penny decided to pay us a visit.

“There were gusts from 95 to 110 km/h but it was constant wind for hours. We had a lull and then it was like a freight train comes racing through.”

Earlier on Wednesday, meteorologist Jess Gardner said there was a high chance the now tropical low could reform into a category 2 tropical cyclone and potentially hit Queensland again.

A Flood Watch remains current for Cape York Peninsula catchments.

Rivers and creeks are already swollen after heavy rain soaked the region over Christmas, with parts of the far north receiving more than 400mm in the past week.

A 34-year-old woman remains missing after she disappeared in a fast-flowing creek near Cooktown on Thursday.

The body of a 28-year-old man was found on Monday morning, several kilometres downstream from where he entered a flooded canal close to Cairns city on Saturday.