Lake Eyre in South Australia is getting the first floodwaters from Queensland's far south-west. Tourists are expected to flock the region to take a view of the salt lake being transformed by flooding for the second consecutive year.

Professor Richard Kingsford from the University of New South Wales says that something that has not happened since 1990 will happen, as there could be enough water in the Cooper Creek system to make it to Lake Eyre.

He added that water from the Diamantina has started to arrive.

"So there's water currently coming down the Diamantina and in fact there's a little bit of water just making its way down the Warburton Groove into Lake Eyre as we speak. These things are guesswork to some extent. We know already there's some water going into Lake Eyre but a bit like last year we just don't know how full it will get and whether or not it will cover the surface."