On 4 April 1989, Cyclone Aivu crossed the North Queensland coast near the Burdekin River, between Townsville and Bowen.

Previously, on 31 March, a tropical low had developed south-east of Papua New Guinea. It  had moved slowly west-south-west, reaching tropical cyclone intensity on 1 April. Cyclone Aivu tracked south-east and then south-west at 15-20 kilometres per hour and continued to intensify for some days.

The cyclone then weakened but maintained severe tropical cyclone intensity when reaching land south of Townsville with wind gusts to 200 kilometres per hour and a storm surge of up to 3 metres. One person drowned in the accompanying storm surge south of the Burdekin River. The system continued to move west-south-west after landfall and degenerated into a rain depression during the next six hours, losing identity two days later.

Cyclone Aivu produced record and near-record April rainfall totals over large parts of the coastal and central interior districts of Queensland and some parts of New South Wales. The maximum total recorded rainfalls inland from Mackay over 24 hours were 581 millimetres.

Severe local flooding occurred between Townsville and Mackay during 4 April with a flood peak at Mackay of 7.8 metres on 5 April. The major flood peak measured 13.2 metres on the Pioneer River upstream from Mackay.

In northern New South Wales, flooding occurred as a result of this cyclone and two people drowned in associated floodwaters.

The Insurance Council of Australia estimated the 1989 damage at $26 million, with the 2011 estimated normalised cost of $138 million.