(Reuters) - Two tropical storms are intensifying in the warm waters off the coast of Australia as they slowly move toward land, meteorologists said on Wednesday.
A tropical low in the Coral Sea is set to bring heavy rain and strong winds to Australia's mid-east coast, covering the heavily-populated southern Queensland and northern New South Wales states over the next several days, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology said in a release.
Cyclone Lam, which formed on Tuesday, is forecast to make landfall Thursday evening in Australia's far northern region where schools are being evacuated and residents warned to take shelter, according to Northern Territory Emergency Services officials.
Farmers suffering under severe drought will welcome the rains, while shipping and aluminum smelting in the area could suffer.
Meteorologists expect the tropical low to move southwest toward the coast over the next 24 hours and possibly build to minimal cyclone strength for a short period before crossing along the Queensland coast on Friday.
Wind speeds of between 90 and 125 kilometers (55-77 miles) per hour are forecast, with abnormally high tides and heavy swells of up to five meters (17.5 feet).
Some parts of Queensland will receive as much as 500 millimeters of rain by Sunday, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology said, giving relief to farmers struggling from a two-year drought.
The rains are also seen promoting pasture growth across Queensland, taking pressure off cattle farmers who have been slaughtering cattle prematurely due to a lack of feed.
Heavy rains would benefit grain farmers as the wheat planting season approaches.
Data supplied by the Bureau of Meteorology shows the storm making landfall close to Boyne Island in Queensland, where Rio Tinto operates Australia's largest aluminum smelter.
Rio Tinto said it was also monitoring the movement of Cyclone Lam, forecast to reach land in Australia's sparsely-populated Northern Territory, where it's Gove division conducts bauxite mining.
The cyclone is also threatening to disrupt operations at BHP Billiton's Groote Eylandt manganese mine, and Glencore's (GLEN.L) McArthur River zinc and lead mine.
Destructive winds near the center of the cyclone of up to 120km (75 miles) per hour have been measured by meteorologists, with gusts of up to 165 kilometers (100 miles) per hour.
(Reporting by James Regan and Colin Packham; Editing by Anupama Dwivedi)
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