Tropical cyclone Owen moved west towards northern Queensland and crossed the coast near Port Douglas at around 3.00am on 10 December, bringing rainfall between 250–350 millimetres to the northern tropical coast. Owen continued to intensify into a severe tropical cyclone (category 3) near the Gulf’s south-west coast before turning east and again heading for Cape York Peninsula. An emergency alert was issued on 13 December for the western Cape community of Pormpuraaw; four more emergency alerts were issued for Pormpuraaw and Kowanyama communities the following day.

Owen made landfall near the small Aboriginal community of Kowanyama (1,400 residents) on the western side of the Cape early on 15 December with wind gusts of up to 170 kilometres per hour. As Owen headed down Queensland’s east coast, the Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning and multiple flood warnings and flood watches for several river catchments across northern and central Queensland.

Owen produced steady heavy rainfall on its second pass, resulting in well above average rainfall for eastern Queensland for December, and localised flash flooding. Cyclone- and flood-affected communities in six local government areas including Carpentaria, Cassowary Coast, Douglas, Hinchinbrook, Townsville and Wujal became eligible for joint Commonwealth–State disaster recovery funding.