DARWIN, Australia, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Australian forecasters say a cyclone growing off the Northern Territory coast has changed its course but is still expected to reach land on Christmas Day.
On Friday morning it was near the Tiwi Islands about 125 miles north of Darwin, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported.
Officials issued a cyclone watch and warned people in remote communities in the regions' so-called Top End, the second northernmost point on the continent, to stock up on food, water and medicine.
Health Minister Kon Vatskalis said the Royal Darwin Hospital was making preparation for the possibility of a disaster, readying a field hospital in case the cyclone affects remote areas in the Territory.
Tiwi Islands Chief Executive Alan Hudson said communities north of Darwin were getting ready.
"Most of the houses on the islands, and particularly the new houses, are cyclone-rated," he said.
"We do accommodate some people in our office complex but ... most people know which houses are cyclone-rated and that is where they gravitate to."
The ocean waters off the Top End are, at this time, the warmest in the world, creating the perfect conditions for a cyclone to form, meteorologists said.
