North Qld is on cyclone watch, with heavy rain and gales expected to batter coastal towns in the coming days. AN emergency alert has been issued for residents in Townsville as Cyclone Dylan bears down. The Townsville Local Disaster Management Group issued the alert, advising of a storm tide warning for 'the Red Zone' on Thursday and Friday. Pictures: Flooding in Far North Queensland "Residents are advised to prepare for inundation of properties and businesses located in this zone," the alert said. To check your zone, go to www.townsville.qld.gov.au. Earlier, we reported high winds, king tides and record rain are all predicted - but there's one thing authorities are really worried about. Time. Forecaster Mark Trenordan said a king tide of up to 4.12 metres is forecast on Friday morning, about the same time the weather system is expected to make landfall. At this stage, forecasters expect it to cross the coast, either as a low pressure system or a cyclone, on Friday morning, between Tully, south of Cairns, and Townsville. Townsville's storm tide evacuation map can be found at www.townsville.qld.gov.au. "It just depends on the timing of any storm surge that could exacerbate the high water level," he told AAP. If you get the storm crossing and the rainfall occurring at the same time as the king tide then obviously we could see water above the highest astronomical tide. Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill is worried about flooding in the city. "It's really more about the wind whipping those high tides over the 4.1 metres we're looking at having on Thursday or Friday and pushing that water further up through our suburbs," she told ABC Radio. Flooding in Cairns. However, Mr Trenordan said that the possibility of the storm surge and the king tide combining was highly dependent on time. "Given that large tidal range, if it's an hour or two either side of that high tide the impact could actually be quite small," he said. As we get closer to Thursday our uncertainty will reduce quite a bit, but as we've seen before these storms can always give us a little bit of a surprise before they hit. Co-owner of August Moon caravan park in Mourilyan, Gretta Gilgrist, said she's started storing loose objects in preparation for the storm. "We're picking up all the loose stuff, sails off the pool, rubbish bins, tables and chairs," she said. There's a lot to put away. Ms Gilgrist has co-managed the business for ten years, said she's well prepared for this storm after already confronting some of the most destructive cyclones to hit the state. "Nobody's panicking much, it looks like it's only going to be a category one," she said. We've had worse up here. We were right in the eye of Larry. We're not going to get too worried until it turns into something horrible. Earlier, The Courier-Mail reported a king tide could combine with a storm surge from a tropical low and flood large parts of north Queensland's coast, forecasters say. The monsoon low about 570km east-northeast of Cairns and 600km northeast of Townsville is expected to bring substantial rain to north Queensland. The Bureau of Meteorology on Wednesday issued a cyclone warning for coastal and island communities from Port Douglas, north of Cairns, south to Mackay. It also issued a severe weather warning for abnormally high tides on Friday morning. Damaging wind gusts to 120km/h are expected to occur this afternoon, tomorrow and Friday. Emergemcy services staff are ramping up operations in north Queensland to handle the conditions. With severe weather predicted for later this week, a total of 23 Queensland Fire and Emergency Services swift water rescue staff and incident management team personnel will travel to Cairns and Townsville today. Twelve left for Cairns this morning and a further 11 will leave Brisbane this afternoon. Weather Bureau forecaster Vinord Anand said the low was moving at 9km per hour towards the coast. It was still a low, rather than a cyclone, and was likely to turn into a significant rain depression, bringing relief to some parts of drought-hit Queensland. "We're looking at 200mm to 300mm of rain between Cairns and Mackay and extending in to about Georgetown," Mr Anand said. Although it might still build into a cyclone, it might just as well remain a significant rain depression. A cyclone warning has been declared for coastal and island communities from Port Douglas to Mackay for residents to take precautions. Flash flooding is expected in coastal and adjacent inland areas of the North Tropical Coast and Tablelands, Herbert and Lower Burdekin and the Central Coast and Whitsundays districts from late this afternoon or evening and should continue into Friday. A dangerous storm tide is expected between Port Douglas and St Lawrence, mainly on the high tide today, tomorrow Earlier it was reported: A CYCLONE warning is now in place for parts of north Queensland as a tropical low gathers strength and heads towards the coast. The weather system is about 590km east-northeast of Cairns and 600km northeast of Townsville, and is moving towards the coast at 9km/h. Earlier it was reported: RESIDENTS of the north Queensland town of Lucinda could find themselves in the path of the state's first tropical cyclone of the season. Flooding and cut roads are expected as torrential rain and the highest tide of the year combine to create a potentially disastrous weather event in the state's farnNorth, The Cairns Post reports That's the message from Bureau of Meteorology forecasters as they declare coastal areas between Port Douglas and Proserpine on "cyclone watch." The first cyclone of the season, scheduled to be named Dylan, is predicted to cross the coast Friday evening but its benefits could ­extend far beyond the north. "The most recent guidance suggest that the crossing will be near Lucinda, but it's important to emphasise that there is uncertainly in that movement," said senior forecaster Michelle Berry. A monsoon low currently sits 590km east, northeast of Cairns. It is expected to travel west southwest in the next 24 hours. Residents between Port Douglas and Prospepine have been advised to monitor the ongoing weather situation. Ms Berry warned residents in the warning zone that even if a cyclone failed to form, it would "still be a system with significant impacts." "Even Prosperine will experience strong gales," she said. "The check-outs have been full all morning,"" she said. ``People start panic buying whenever they hear there's a cyclone around."" "We ... had no power for seven days after Yasi,"" she said. The low is moving towards the coast at 10km/h.