A lot of people are in harm’s way, Jim Chalmers says
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is speaking to ABC News Breakfast from his electorate of Logan in Queensland where he says it is the “calm before the storm”:
We’re preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best. There is a lot of stress and anxiety. People are obviously very concerned and very worried about what the next couple of days might bring …
There’s a lot of people in harm’s way here. We’re talking about something like four and a half million Australians, potentially in harm way, 1.8m homes, and we expect that there’ll be billions of dollars of damage done by Cyclone Alfred and so the best thing we can do is prepare and stay informed, make sure that people are accessing all of the relevant information and getting it from trusted sources …
It’s rare for a cyclone to be this far south and to threaten such a huge population area, but we do learn from previous natural disasters.
All three levels of government were working together, Chalmers said, and the government would be there for affected communities in the aftermath.
Key events
Josh Nicholas
As much of Queensland and Northern NSW brace for Cyclone Alfred, new data shows how much Australians are being impacted by disasters. Almost 1 in 20 Australians had their homes damaged by weather-related disasters in 2021-22, according to a national survey released today. The HILDA survey interviews the same 17,000 people every year, and has asked about natural disasters since 2009.
The latest spike was corresponds to flooding in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria in 2022. The previous high mark was in 2010/11, after storms in Western Australia and the Black Saturday bushfires in the east.
Currently 198 people have registered with an evacuation centre, Jackson said:
There are 198 people who have registered with an evacuation centre already. They opened up 4pm yesterday. So some of those people are in the centres and using the facilities now, others have just come and registered. But if an evacuation order is in place, they will attend the centre, so that’s the current status.
Deputy commissioner Thurtell says 20,000 people are affected by the evacuation orders:
We currently have approximately 10,000 homes in the area of the 24 prepare to evacuate areas, that would equate to approximately 20,000 people that are again acknowledging a number of people have already relocated and they are very broad figures, but we are talking significant numbers.
… Those numbers are the worst-case scenario numbers… we are planning for the worst and hoping for the best.
Getting back to that NSW press conference, Jackson says there are two evacuation centres open which are primarily being used by vulnerable people, but another seven locations which are ready to be opened if they are needed:
We already have a number of people at the Lismore site and at the Evans Head site in particular. There are small numbers at some of the other locations. Most of those individuals are vulnerable people, people who are already experiencing homelessness, perhaps residents of the pod villages. We know on the New South Wales north coast there is a significant number of people in unstable housing. We have proactively reached out to those people through our partner organisations, the SES, the Reconstruction Authority, and invited them to come and stay at evacuation centres and pleasingly a number have. The Lismore and Evans Head facilities, we have seen a number of people. There are another seven locations primarily around the Mid North Coast, the major centres there that had not opened evacuation centres yet, but we do have sites identified, and depending on how the storm moves and its impact, we are ready to open those Mid North Coast centres if they are needed.
Andrew Messenger
Brisbane City Council plans to reopen its sandbag depots, with Tropical Cyclone Alfred moving slower than expected.
Four resource recovery centres will open at 10am. They are at:
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1372 Nudgee Road, Nudgee Beach
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360 Sherbrooke Road, Willawong
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101 Upper Kedron Road, Ferny Grove
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728 Tilley Road, Chandler
The seven fill-your-own sandbag distribution points will reopen at 10.30am.
They are at:
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Mortimer Road Park – 174 Mortimer Road, Acacia Ridge
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The former Toowong Bowls Club – Cnr Gailey Road and Heroes Avenue, Toowong
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Whites Hill Reserve -258 Boundary Road, Camp Hill
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Boondall Entertainment Centre, Car Park 2 – 1 Melaleuca Drive, Boondall
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Davies Park, Montague Road, West End
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Atthows Park, Monier Road, Darra
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Murarrie Recreational Reserve, Wynnum Road, Murarrie
Council’s website will list the availability of sand at each site along with wait times.
More than 400,000 sandbags have been collected or filled in Brisbane council alone since Friday, more than double the number used in the 2022 flood.
Sand and bags will be provided onsite, but residents should bring their own shovel and cable ties.
Andrew Messenger
Brisbane’s local ABC breakfast radio program has abandoned the broadcaster’s South Bank headquarters as Tropical Cyclone Alfred approaches.
Based in South Brisbane, the multi-storey building can flood.
Craig Zonca and Loretta Ryan are instead broadcasting out of a hotel in Spring Hill – well above the high-water line.
Rose Jackson, NSW minister for the north coast, acknowledged the anxiety and distress in the community with this latest natural disaster coming after “years of trauma” due to extreme weather:
I also want to send this message to the north coast community, we know that after years of trauma that they have the devastating floods going back to 2017 and of course 2022 there is a lot of anxiety and distress in the community.
Mental health support is available. There will be disaster recovery clinicians and mental health staff on-site in evacuation centres but the statewide phone lines in the mental health line one 800 011511 is available 24/7. You can contact Lifeline or Beyond Blue, you can contact the kids helpline. If you feel distressed or anxious, that is a very normal response to this very distressing situation.
Please reach out and chat to someone and talk through how you are feeling. The New South Wales government really wants the community on the north coast to know that we are prepared an understanding with you – but it is OK to feel stressed and upset and anxious in these circumstances and the best thing you can do is make sure that you know you have done everything to prepare and if you need someone to talk to, pick up a phone and have a chat about how you are feeling.
Evacuation orders expected
State emergency operations controller and deputy commissioner Peter Thurtell is relaying a similar message that people should not underestimate the impact of the cyclone due to the delay:
I want to be really clear that a delay in the timing of the crossing of the cyclone across land for does not mean less impact. We’re already seeing the impacts of significant winds and coastal surge. We’re already seeing the impacts of damaging winds and we’re are already seeing, as we’ve just heard, the impacts of the rainfall and early river rises.
He is urging residents of NSW to heed the 24 warnings to prepare to evacuate in the state, with further warnings anticipated for low-lying communities:
Based on the current projections and the current rainfall, we believe later today some of those low-lying communities will be receiving an emergency warning to evacuate.
Delay will bring more damage, BoM says
Jane Golding says even though the landfall of the cyclone has been delayed, the impact has not lessened:
The key message is that the crossing of the eye of the system has delayed but we still expect similar impact and we expect what that means as well is that we will have longer for the rain to fall and the wind to do the damage.
‘We expect significant coastal erosion’
There are also abnormally high waves along the northern NSW coast, Jane Golding says:
We have seen the seas pick up yesterday and we see abnormally high tide which means the water levels are higher than you would normally see for the highest tide of the year and that is something we are monitoring closely.
Particularly around high tide for the next few nights we can expect some inundation along the coastal strip into areas that we would not normally see it and that is coming from the tides. The waves are powerful and we expect significant coastal erosion as well associated with this event.
Wind warning
Several areas in northern NSW are experiencing gales, Jane Golding says:
We are seeing gale-force wind along several coastal locations in New South Wales. The Yamba areas have picked up above 50km/h, Cape Byron, one of our more exposed sites, is also in the gale-force range.
More generally, we expect those gales further down the coast during today and possibly a bit inland.
As the destructive core of the tropical cyclone approaches later tomorrow, we will see a further increase, in particular in the area north of Cape Byron, that area that is closest to the core of the tropical cyclone.
BoM weather update
Jane Golding, from the Bureau of Meteorology is giving an update on the weather at the NSW Emergency Operations Centre, saying rivers are responding to the up to 250mm of rain which has fallen in areas of northern NSW:
At present the system is expected to cross late on Friday or early Saturday morning. What that means is that we still have a period of three days of increasing rainfall and wind for New South Wales residents. The peak of the rain in the peak of the wind is expected to be a little delayed, closer to when the tropical cyclone crosses the coast but we are still expecting deteriorating weather more generally through today and tonight.
What we have seen so far as we have seen some locations in New South Wales pick up some high rainfall rates already on the river catchments have begun to respond. The Dorrigo area picked up between 150 and 250mm in the last 24 hours, for some locations up around Mullumbimby as well, quite a few locations in that area received over 100mm. We are seeing rivers respond and we expect more rainfall and we expect heavier rainfall, particularly tonight and through tomorrow and tomorrow night.
Benita Kolovos
Victoria stands ready to help
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, says her thoughts are with people in NSW and Queensland bracing for Cyclone Alfred. She says Victoria stands ready to support emergency services in both states:
There is active engagement with national emergency response arrangements, and we do stand ready to provide what support may be needed for colleagues and friends in Queensland and New South Wales. We’re also still in our own fire season as well, so all of these things have to be considered, but I think we should pause for a moment and send our very best wishes and thoughts to the communities in Queensland and New South Wales who are facing a really difficult few days. We are ready to provide whatever support we can, I sent a message to the Queensland premier over the weekend to that effect, before the cyclone change direction has started to also impact New South Wales.
Joe Hinchliffe
Brisbane mayor warns against false sense of security as city bathed in sunlight
Brisbane lord mayor Adrian Schrinner is warning residents against being “lulled into a false sense of security” as Cyclone Alfred’s expected arrival was delayed and the city awoke to beautiful sunshine and gentle winds.
With schools closed and public transport shut down many were using the window of good weather to make last-minute preparations, while others were taking the kids to the park, dogs for a run or catching up with friends before days of heavy rain, potential flooding and the possibility of a lockdown-like situation.
Schrinner said in a social media post:
Alfred has slowed down. Which means it’ll make landfall later than anticipated. Now all of the warnings still stand. The risks the hazards associated with Alfred still stand, but we’re just going to have to wait a little bit longer before it strikes land.
The mayor said the situation was dynamic and could change again:
This situation has continued to change. It will probably change again, but it is still a highly dangerous situation. It will still potentially bring significant flooding, and we need to take it seriously.
So when you go outside today, it looks like a pretty calm day. Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security.
Supermarkets and schools closed
As for how communities are being affected, Albanese says Queensland supermarkets in affected areas will be closed from today, as well as schools in NSW and Queensland:
More than 660 schools are closed across south-east Queensland and more than 280 schools are closed across northern New South Wales. Queensland supermarkets in affected areas will close from today.
Resources at the ready
Albanese is also providing details on what kind support is being deployed across emergency services and the Australian defence force:
We’ve delivered 310,000 sandbags into Brisbane for distribution across councils and there’s more on their way.
Sixty ADF personnel and 30 high-clearance vehicles are pre-positioned to go to Queensland and support police and SES volunteers as we move to the recovery phase. They’ll door knock to identify and support at-risk people.
We have approved in addition to that two ADF search-and-rescue choppers to support Queensland post-crossing. Yesterday we pre-positioned heavy-lift helicopters from our national aerial firefighting fleet. It’s being deployed to Coffs Harbour, and a UH60 Black Hawk is being pre-positioned in Bundaberg.
We have activated the Australian government disaster response plan, a crisis coordination team that will operate out of here, I intend operating out of here for coming days.
Recovery grants to be offered speedily
Albanese says money for affected communities through early recovery grants from the commonwealth government is “on its way”:
We’ve received a request from both Queensland and New South Wales… for the early recovery grants of $1m for affected councils. I will sign off on those at Parliament House immediately this finishes. And that money will be on its way.
‘A risk is of course that in slowing up, it increases in its intensity’
Anthony Albanese acknowledges the slowing of the cyclone could mean it increases in intensity:
It’s now anticipated, because it has slowed up somewhat, that that will now be at a later time. That is not all good news. It is important to stress it’s still anticipated this will cross into land and will reach landfall, it will just do it later. And a risk is of course that in slowing up, it increases in its intensity, but at this stage it is still predicted to be Category-two, as it crosses on to land. It is expected to make an impact on Friday.
