Cyclone Alfred brings destructive winds and rain as it heads towards eastern coast
Cyclone Alfred is heading towards the Australian coast, bringing destructive winds and heavy rain and prompting calls for residents to take the threat seriously.
Tropical Cyclone Alfred is moving slowly about 560km east of Brisbane as a category two system and is forecast to slow further before making a U-turn towards the city.
“It would actually start to move directly towards the coast of Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast later today,” the Bureau of Meteorology’s (BoM) Jonathan How said on Tuesday.
Rainfall and strong wind gusts are already beginning ahead of Alfred making landfall between the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane on Thursday evening or Friday morning.
Brisbane’s ferry services have stopped so the vessels can be moved out of the river ahead of Alfred striking the city.
Large waves have been recorded along the coastline with one swell reaching beyond seven metres on North Stradbroke Island overnight.
The worst of the impacts when Alfred makes landfall will be in its southern flank for areas including Brisbane, the Gold Coast and NSW’s Northern Rivers region.
The Northern Rivers and southeastern parts of Queensland received 40mm of rain overnight, which will only escalate over the coming days.
The BoM is forecasting heavy rainfall of up to 400mm later in the week, leading to widespread, moderate to major flooding in southeast Queensland and NSW.
Flood watches spanning the two states and multiple rivers are current.
The destructive winds are forecast to be prolonged and cause significant damage to properties and trees as Alfred draws closer.
Residents are already preparing for the weather system with 100,000 sandbags collected in the past three days in Brisbane.
Alfred will mark the first cyclone to cross the coast since 1974 when Zoe made landfall at Coolangatta.
It came just weeks after Cyclone Wanda had triggered record Brisbane floods that claimed 16 lives.
There have been some near misses since with Nancy in 1990 and Oma in 2019.
Cyclones may have threatened the southeast before but an expert warned many more people and significant infrastructure would be “in the firing line” when Alfred hit.
“What we have seen since then (1974) particularly at places like the Gold Coast is a significant amount of development on flood plains and along the coast,” Natural Hazards Research Australia CEO Andrew Gissing told the Australian Associated Press.
“It could be a significant disaster event. We are right to be taking this seriously.”
People have been warned to leave or prepare for the worst, sparking panic buying in some areas.
Source: sbs.com.au
