Cape York residents urged to make a plan to shelter from Cyclone Narelle

Cape York residents are being urged to find strong buildings to shelter in to ride out a potential category four or five weather system in a region without cyclone shelters.

Far North Queensland is being warned to brace for Tropical Cyclone Narelle threatening the coast on Friday morning, delivering destructive wind gusts of up to 250 kilometres an hour.

The current Bureau of Meteorology tracking map has consistently shown the cyclone making landfall near Coen.

Coen business owner Sara Watkins said she was "extremely worried" about her mainly corrugated-iron property with single-pane glass windows.

"It was built probably around the 60s or 70s, if not earlier than that," she said.

"If it does turn into a major cyclone, I think we're really going to see the impact of what that is on the building."

Ms Watkins said she had identified places locally where she could safely shelter if the cyclone came her way.

There are no cyclone shelters in the Cook Shire, with an estimated population of about 5,000 people; however, the council established designated "places of refuge" in some communities following Cyclone Jasper in 2023.

Further north at Lockhart River, with a population of about 650, the Aboriginal Shire Council chief executive David Clarke said he had been lobbying for more than a decade for a cyclone shelter but none had been established.

Cook Shire Council Mayor Robyn Holmes said the lack of designated cyclone shelters was not a major problem but urged people to get in touch with the council if they were concerned.

"Most people generally take shelter in homes and with friends or family," she said.

She said populations were reduced in the wet season.

Coen, which is in the current path of Cyclone Narelle, has the C.S. Love Hall as a place of refuge. Coen's population is about 320.

The mayor said homes were within cyclone ratings.

"I'm not overly concerned about the building stock in Coen, and they have been through cyclones in the past," Councillor Holmes said.

She said the community would pull together to keep people safe and that stocks were recently replenished.

"If anyone's in need, they just knock on someone's door."

Councillor Holmes urged people not to drive unless necessary.

"The rivers come up and down because the area is really saturated," she said.

Lockhart River Aboriginal Shire chief executive David Clarke has been in the job for 20 years, spanning two terms since 1993.

He has seen many cyclones, the most memorable being category three systems Monica in 2006 and Trevor in 2019.

"One thing our community is very, very good at is resilience and they don't take fright easy," he said.

Lockhart River's road access has already been cut for about eight weeks with the Pascoe, Wenlock and Claudie river systems covering crossings on the Peninsula Development Road.

Mr Clarke said the community relied exclusively on air and sea logistics so "isolation isn't an issue".

In previous cyclones, the council ensured residents were in stronger buildings because there were no dedicated places of refuge in the community.

He said the council had been campaigning "for well over a decade" for a cyclone shelter.

"I know there's a batting order and bigger communities probably still don't have one, but we're certainly in the firing line and history paints that picture," Mr Clarke said.

Local state and federal members said they were unaware of a campaign for a cyclone shelter but said they would work with local councils.

Federal MP for Leichhardt Matt Smith said funding was available for shelters, similar to those built in Kowanyama and Palm Island, through the federal government's Disaster Ready Fund.