Cyclone Ului heads toward Qld coast

www.bom.gov.au

A CYCLONE over the Coral Sea poses no immediate threat to the Queensland coast, the weather bureau says.

Cyclone Ului has weakened from a category five to a category four and is about 1470km northeast of Mackay.

"It's still over the Coral Sea just to the south of the Solomon Islands, so it's well offshore," Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Michelle Berry said on Monday.

"It has weakened somewhat in the last few hours but we are anticipating it will reintensify, possibly into a category five again, early tomorrow but it will still be well offshore."

She said the cyclone was expected to maintain its slow track westward over the next 24 to 36 hours, remaining well off the Queensland coast.

"Beyond that period, it could then take on a more southerly path," she said, adding its long term direction was very unpredictable.

"We will continue to monitor it carefully until we get more of a consensus on where it could move."

Meanwhile, Fiji is braced for the arrival of category four Cyclone Tomas.

On Monday morning, (0500 AEDT), the cyclone was about 185km northeast of the town of Labasa on the northern island of Vanua Levu.

"Fiji has not faced a cyclone this strong lately, and we are not taking this thing lightly," Fiji Disaster Management Office director Pajiliai Dobui told Radio New Zealand.

There were power cuts on Vanua Levu and damage to houses on outlying islands as the cyclone approached.

Tomas was estimated to have average winds of 170km/h and was expected to intensify to 205km/h over the next 12 to 24 hours, the Fiji Meteorological Service (FMS) said.

Australian tourists were among a number of people evacuated from Plantation Resort on the island of Malolo LaiLai to Fiji's largest island, Viti Levu, on Sunday.