Canberra's water authority ACTEW has defended its handling of the Cotter Dam enlargement project as construction runs over schedule and budget.

Cattle stations, communities and roadhouses in the state's north are starting a major clean-up in the wake of cyclone Lua.

Forecasters say a tropical low in the southern Gulf of Carpentaria in Queensland will become a cyclone sometime overnight.

Roads have been closed and flights cancelled as a category three cyclone approaches Western Australia's Pilbara coast.

The weather bureau has cancelled its cyclone warning for parts of the western Top End in the Northern Territory and Western Australia but warns of the prospect of more torrential rain.

The Northern Territory's Top End is bracing for a possible cyclone this morning.

Recent rain in South Australia's outback has increased the number of several native species.

A young boy has been rescued after being trapped by sand being used to fill sandbags in flood-stricken New South Wales.

The monsoon has been relatively quite through this cyclone season but a burst of activity is currently taking place to the northwest of the Australian continent.

While the flood threat is easing in some parts of New South Wales, others towns in the region are still bracing for inundation.

South Australia's wet weather has thrown much of the state's wine grape harvest into upheaval.

Sydney has just recorded its hottest day of the summer on the second last day of the season.

Gympie Mayor Ron Dyne is urging residents in the south-east Queensland town to be patient as floodwaters recede.

A family of five had to flee from their home in Melbourne's western suburbs last night when lightning started a fire in their roof.

Parts of south-east Queensland have been belted overnight as severe thunderstorms continue.

The new owner of a cyclone-damaged resort on Dunk Island, off far north Queensland, says it could be many months before construction begins on a new resort.

Yesterday afternoon parts of Queensland were barraged by damaging winds, hail and torrents of water.

Maranoa Mayor Robert Loughnan says he is still overwhelmed by the generosity shown to flood-affected communities across Queensland's southern inland.

The New South Wales State Emergency Service has received more than 130 calls for help after very heavy rainfall caused flash flooding south and south-west of Sydney.

Flood engineers say the huge floods that devastated Brisbane last year could also happen on a similar scale in Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, the Gold Coast and Newcastle.

The weather bureau has issued severe thunderstorm warnings for parts of New South Wales and Queensland.

Penrith experienced flooding overnight as more than 100mm of rain fell, its heaviest in 15 years.

Authorities have given the go-ahead for evacuated residents to return to St George in southern inland Queensland.

Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts says the Defence Force is making good progress in the flood clean-up of the towns of Mitchell and Roma in Queensland's southern inland.

Extra help has arrived in Queensland's flood-ravaged southern inland, where the massive clean up is getting into full swing.

Maranoa Mayor Robert Loughnan has described conditions in Roma and Mitchell in southern inland Queensland as "absolute mayhem" as a massive flood clean-up continues.

Council staff have been reinforcing a levee at Cunnamulla in south-west Queensland,where the Warrego River is expected to peak at around 10 metres on Thursday.

The massive clean-up is continuing in the flood-ravaged towns of Mitchell and Roma in Queensland's southern inland.

There is a new threat facing St George, in Queensland's southern inland, with flooding damaging the local sewage treatment plant and contaminating waters.

Three-quarters of homes and businesses in Mitchell in Queensland's southern inland have been flooded over the weekend, as residents return to a massive clean-up.