Cyclone Alfred nears Australian east coast as over 200 flights cancelled: Updates

Acting Police Commissioner Shane Chelepy has warned communities in cyclone-affected regions to brace for severe flooding and storm surges as Cyclone Alfred nears the Queensland coast.

“This is significant rainfall. It won’t only cause flash flooding in areas that are most impacted but prolonged riverine flooding, and it’s important we are preparing now for this potential rainfall,” Mr Chelepy said in a live update.

With waterways already saturated, he cautioned that rivers and creeks would likely swell rapidly under intense rainfall.

Emergency services, he assured, are fully mobilised and ready to respond. However, he urged residents to take immediate precautions, including sandbagging their properties, elevating furniture in low-lying homes, and storing essential documents in waterproof containers.

Mr Chelepy also stressed the dangers of driving through floodwaters.

“This risky behaviour puts yourself, your family, but also our emergency service workers at severe risk when we have to come and rescue you,” he said.

Authorities have called on the public to remain vigilant as Cyclone Alfred brings dangerous weather conditions over the coming days.

The federal government had delivered 310,000 sandbags to Brisbane and more were on the way, prime minister Anthony Albanese said.

“My message to people, whether they be in southeast Queensland or northern New South Wales, is we are there to support you. We have your back,” he told reporters in the national capital Canberra.

A shortage of sandbags in Brisbane, a city of more than three million people, led some to buy sacks of potting mix as an alternative, according to Damien Effeney, a chief executive of a rural supplies business.

“I think between availability and the time that people have to queue to get sandbags, they’re just making the easier choice and grabbing potting mix,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, adding one customer bought 30 bags from his store at Samford on Brisbane’s northwest fringe.

Several Brisbane sandbag collection points were either empty or people had to line up for hours to collect available sandbags. A beach volleyball business complained some of its sand had been stolen to fill bags.

Brisbane streets were largely empty of traffic and supermarket shelves had been stripped bare of basics including bread, milk, bottled water and batteries.

Public transport in the area was stopped from Thursday and hospitals were limited to performing emergency surgeries until the danger had passed.

Strong winds had cut power to 4,500 homes and businesses in northern New South Wales on Thursday, officials said. Rivers were rising across the region due to rain and emergency teams were preparing to start evacuating people from low-lying areas on the New South Wales side of the border.

The coast near the border has been battered for days by abnormally high tides and seas.

A 12.3m high wave recorded off a popular Gold Coast beach on Wednesday night was a record for the area, officials said. People living in the cyclone’s path gained an additional 24 hours to batten down after meteorologists revised their forecast of the cyclone making land to late Thursday or early Friday.

But the cyclone’s slower progress towards the coast had a downside, meteorologist Jane Golding said. “We’ll have longer for the rain to fall and the wind to do the damage,” Ms Golding said.

Cyclone Alfred was forecast to bring destructive winds and heavy rain by Thursday morning. However, overnight, the system unexpectedly slowed, with landfall now projected for early Saturday.

The delay occurred when the cyclone deviated from its expected path on Wednesday, looping back on itself instead of continuing towards the coast.

“Alfred basically stalled and almost did a loop-de-loop back on itself,” said Christie Johnson, a meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology.

The slowdown was caused by a high-pressure ridge over the Tasman Sea, which disrupted the cyclone’s trajectory and reduced wind speeds steering the system.

Professor Liz Ritchie-Tyo, a cyclone expert at Monash University, explained that small deviations in the cyclone’s movement led to weaker steering winds, delaying its approach.

“When it took that sharp turn, it came under the influence of that ridge and they tend to have much lighter winds associated with them,” he told the Guardian.

Cyclone Alfred is expected to weaken to a Category 1 system by early Saturday morning as it moves closer to the Queensland coast, the Bureau of Meteorology has said.

The storm is currently 245km east of Brisbane, moving west at 7kmph, with increasing impacts anticipated throughout Thursday night. While Alfred remains a Category 2 cyclone, it is likely to maintain this intensity until its centre nears the coast and islands, according to the bureau’s latest update.

“The centre of Alfred is expected to cross the coast very early Saturday morning, most likely between Noosa and Coolangatta,” the bureau stated.

A tracking map released by forecasters suggests the system could weaken to Category 1 as it passes over Moreton Island around 1am Queensland time on Saturday.

Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Jonathan How said that while the cyclone’s official classification may drop, it would still pose significant risks.

“The category only relates to the wind speed in that crossing, it doesn’t relate to anything such as the surf or the rainfall,” Mr How told ABC Radio Brisbane.

Authorities have urged residents to remain on high alert as the system approaches.

Authorities are searching for a possible missing jetskier off the northern New South Wales coast as Cyclone Alfred brings dangerous conditions to the region.

Acting Chief Superintendent Peter Miles confirmed that an emergency beacon signal was received from Canberra at 11.09am, prompting a police and marine rescue response. Officers discovered an unattended jet-ski trailer in a car park, with no sign of its owner.

“We haven’t located the jet ski yet, but there was witness information that they saw what looked like debris from a jet ski hitting the rock wall there,” Mr Miles said.

“So we’re putting two and two together and coming up with the fact that we may be looking for at least one person that is unaccounted for at this stage.”

Mr Miles emphasised the growing concern as time passes, urging people to stay away from the beaches.

“You’re dealing with Mother Nature at her wildest. You do not have control over what you’re stepping on to when you’re on a beach at the moment,” he warned.

“We’ve had situations where the beach has given away while people are walking on it. You’ve all seen the footage. It is dangerous!”

Authorities are continuing the search and have not yet confirmed if the jetskier has been found.

The Gold Coast is expected to face the worst of Cyclone Alfred’s impact before the storm makes landfall, acting mayor Donna Gates has warned.

Ms Gates said the cyclone’s unpredictable movement has led to uncertainty over its exact timing, though it is now expected to cross the coast either on Friday evening or early Saturday, reported the Guardian.

“Cyclone Alfred is extremely erratic. It is now moving towards the coast but more slowly, likely now to cross on Saturday morning. But given it is so erratic, we have been warned that there is still a possibility that it might be Friday evening,” she said.

“So, the worst impact for the Gold Coast is likely to be before the cyclone crosses.”

Wind speeds could reach 100kmph on Friday, with Redlands and the Gold Coast at risk of sea levels rising up to 1.5m above the highest astronomical tide. Heavy to intense rainfall is forecast from Thursday night through to Saturday, with cumulative totals expected to reach 800mm.

Ms Gates also cautioned residents about the dangers of flash flooding and rising river levels.“People need to know both of those outcomes can be life-threatening,” she said.

Cyclone Alfred is set to unleash destructive winds and torrential rain across Australia’s east coast, with gusts expected to exceed 125kmph near Brisbane by this evening if the storm moves within 100km of the shore.

Strong winds capable of toppling trees and damaging smaller structures have already caused power outages along parts of the New South Wales north coast.

Flights in and out of Brisbane have been cancelled, and schools along the storm’s path have been shut.

Flood warnings are in effect as far south as Gloucester, with Barrington Tops recording over 200mm of rainfall in the past week. Heavy downpours are expected to intensify on Thursday, with 24-hour totals likely to surpass 100mm across affected regions.

Wind gusts exceeding 90kmph are forecast between Double Island Point, north of the storm surge, and Grafton to the south, as authorities urge residents to prepare for dangerous conditions.

Cyclone Alfred has stalled off Australia’s east coast, prompting widespread closures and emergency preparations as authorities brace for heavy flooding and destructive winds.

Initially expected to make landfall early on Friday, the category-two storm is now forecast to reach the Queensland coast near Brisbane by Friday evening, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

As of 10am on Thursday, the cyclone was positioned 280km east of Brisbane and 260km northeast of the Gold Coast, moving westward at a sluggish 10kmph.

Despite its distance, Alfred’s impact is already being felt, with towering waves and hazardous weather battering the New South Wales north coast and much of Queensland’s southern coastline.

Footage has surfaced of massive swells along the Gold Coast, where waves exceeding 12m in height have been reported.

In anticipation of severe flooding, officials have shut down airports, schools, and public transport, while residents have rushed to stockpile supplies and fortify their homes with sandbags.

As Tropical Cyclone Alfred barrels toward Australia’s eastern coast, residents from Brisbane to northern New South Wales are bracing for a storm event not seen in over half a century.

The cyclone, currently a Category 2 system, is expected to make landfall between the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast early Friday, bringing destructive winds, life-threatening flooding, and coastal erosion to some of Australia’s most densely populated areas.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, Alfred could possibly reach a Category 3 status but the chances of that remain low.

However, the storm was expected to remain on the stronger end of Category 2 when it makes landfall, reports our Asia climate correspondent Stuti Mishra: