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'Take Shelter': NT Braces As Cyclone Strengthens Off Coast Of Darwin

"Cyclone Blanche" is now at category one tropical cyclone intensity.
A tropical cyclone may develop off the NT coast on Sunday.
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A tropical cyclone may develop off the NT coast on Sunday.

Australia's first tropical cyclone of the season to make landfall is bringing strong winds and heavy rain to the nation's Top End.

Residents from the Northern Territory's Dundee Beach through to Mitchell Plateau in Western Australia were urged to prepare for a tropical cyclone, but the warning has since been cancelled for parts of the Northern Territory between Dundee Beach to Point Stuart, including Darwin.

Cyclone Blanche is expected to strengthen from a category 1 to a category 2 cyclone as it makes landfall on Monday afternoon on the tip of Western Australia.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) says a cyclone warning is in place for coastal areas of the western Top End, including the Tiwi Islands and Wadeye.

Darwin seems to have escaped the worst of Cyclone Blanche as it moves south-west away from the city.

BoM said Croker Island to Cape Fourcroy and Point Stuart to Wadeye were in the path of the damaging weather system.

"A tropical low just north of the Tiwi islands is slowly intensifying and may reach tropical cyclone intensity in the next 6 to 12 hours," BoM said on its website.

There are also concerns that the heavy rains will flood catchments and waterways in the Kimberley, with rainfall expected to exceed 200mm on Monday. The Bureau of Meteorology has issued flood warnings for Keep River, Lower Ord River, King River, Pentecost River, Drysdale River and King Edward River.

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