Twin tropical low pressure areas are bringing heavy rain and flooding to parts of both the Northern Territory and Queensland today, and that's likely to continue into the weekend. I'm Angus here at the Bureau of Meteorology. This is a severe weather update. Today is Friday, March the 6th. Let's get into it. There's a lot to cover in this video. And don't forget you can always get the full detailed warnings and flood information on our website.

But for now, let's take a look at satellite imagery across northern Australia, where we see two tropical low pressure areas — one near Cairns, one over the Top End in the Northern Territory. This is the one we are going to focus on first. This has been bringing heavy rain to the Top End of the NT. It started yesterday afternoon. It rained heavily across the Territory overnight last night, up to 200mm in parts, particularly around the Katherine area.

Then this morning the rain has drifted a little further to the west, now falling over the western Top End. And that is where we have got a heavy rainfall warning in place for the rest of the day today on Friday — heavy rainfall here mostly over the Daly district south of Darwin. We're looking from Batchelor southwards down towards Wadeye and Pine Creek. In this area we could see six hour rainfall totals up to or exceeding 100mm, on top of the rain that has already fallen. It will continue to be extremely wet.

Based on the rainfall in the past 24 hours, a number of rivers are in flood across the Top End, including around Katherine. We also have a major flood warning for the Daly River — majors through this area here — with some generalized flood warnings over a larger region. And with more rain on the way, we could see more rivers reach their flood levels and potentially burst their banks. We have got a flood watch in place over much of the western Top End from Darwin right down towards the Western Australia border.

There's also a flood watch shown here in the darker purple for some eastern parts of the Top End as well. Significant further wet weather is possible over the Territory, but it is also possible over northern and eastern parts of Queensland associated with our second tropical low pressure area, which is quite close to Cairns at the moment. It's been gradually approaching the country and forecast to cross the coastline and move onto Queensland in the next few hours, sometime during the middle of the day on Friday.

Then through Friday night into the weekend this will move in a south-westwards path, pulling it towards central parts of Queensland, maybe veering down towards the south-east later on in the weekend — potentially pulling it towards maybe southern or even south-eastern Queensland.

Severe weather warnings have moved away from the coastline now as the rain across this area has somewhat eased after being extremely heavy yesterday and overnight. We have seen significant flooding north of Cairns through Port Douglas, up towards Wujal Wujal and Cooktown as well.

The heavier rain expected later today is now moving inland in line with this weather system pushing into parts of Queensland. This is our current severe weather warning. The heavier falls are not anticipated here until this evening, but Friday evening into Friday night into Saturday morning could be very wet over interior parts of North Queensland.

We're looking at southern parts of the Cape York Peninsula, interior parts of the north tropical coast, and northern parts of the Highlands there. Six hour rainfall totals through this region could be in the 70 to 130 mm range. In both of these warning areas our main threat with this upcoming weather is flooding.

We have, and will continue to see, flooding along the rivers and riverine flooding remains a major risk. But flash flooding will also be a risk. That is flooding that can occur away from the river network — anywhere where the rainfall is too heavy to drain away. Flash and riverine flooding possible in the NT and Queensland today and into the weekend. Damage to infrastructure is definitely possible, including power outages. We could also see some widespread road closures, delays, disruptions and potential for community isolation across both of these warning areas.

For Queensland, let's jump ahead to how things could evolve over the weekend as this low pressure area moves inland on Friday. Heavy rain over this region here to the north of the low, but a secondary area of heavy rain is expected also across this stretch of coast from Townsville and the Herbert Lower Burdekin region down to Mackay and the Central Coast area.

This is as northerly winds drive rain onshore there through the rest of the day, particularly as we push into this afternoon and this evening. Then for Saturday, let's continue to play out this map here. The low pressure area will move inland. Rain becomes extensive, including spreading down the east coast. So it's no longer just Townsville to Mackay. We could see heavy rain on Saturday push down towards Rockhampton in the Capricornia.

Then down towards Hervey Bay, Bundaberg and the Wide Bay Burnett region. And then as we go into Sunday, there's even a chance it gets further south with the risk of heavy falls getting right down into south-east Queensland. This could affect Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast, the Gold Coast, Noosa as well as inland areas.

On Sunday this could become a real focal point for some heavier rainfall. It's a bit early to pin too much by way of numbers on the rain down here, but we certainly could see something in the 50 to 150 mm range for south-east parts of Queensland. That will not be the only spot seeing heavy rain mind you. This is the three day rainfall accumulations for the state. When we are seeing these red colours, that's showing us the potential for triple figure 100mm plus rainfall. We can see that as extensive — starting here today, moving down here tomorrow, moving down here on Sunday and into Monday.

So lots of wet weather over the next few days across northern and eastern Queensland. The upcoming rain will be falling onto extremely saturated soil and swollen rivers through the state. We've got flood warnings across central parts of Queensland, including a number of major flood warnings in red.

We've got flood watches shown in the purple colour right across the north and the east. We could well see more flood watches get issued through this area here in the coming few days as that rainfall forecast starts to firm up. This is particularly for both the Wide Bay area and then down towards the south-east as well. So lots to keep on top of this week if you live in northern Australia — even parts of south-east Queensland.

Definitely stay up to date with the warnings, the flood information and all your other forecast info on the BOM website or weather app. Thanks for watching and stay safe.