Australia's east coast strip around Brisbane, the country's third largest city, had the first cyclone forecast to land in the area for the first time in decades as authorities warned of widespread flooding and potentially destructive winds.
The slow moving tropical cyclone Alfred was expected to land near Brisbane at the end of Friday or early Saturday. Approximately 2.7 million people live there. By noon on Thursday, it was floating about 150 miles from town, already creating towering waves of records. Local governments have issued “prepared to evacuate” warnings for cities and parts of nearby areas, saying there is a risk of flooding tens of thousands of structures in lowlands.
Winds are expected to be around 95 mph in coastal areas, and predictors warned that dangerous levels of storm tide could engulf parts of the area. According to the Australian Weather Service, Alfred will be the first cyclone since 1974 to land along Queensland's southeast coast since 1974.
More than 900 schools and multiple airports have been closed, public transport in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales has been suspended, and a storm has landed. Grocery store shelves have been empty by shoppers and people were originally expected to remain offshore, changing courses and starting to move forward towards the land, forming long lines on recent days to get punching bags.
Even as authorities warned of future dangers, record inflation brought a large group of devoted surfers to the coast on a recent day, watching the crowd ride the waves of cyclones.
Authorities warned that slow advances in the storm could amplify impacts on coastal communities by extending rainfall and storm surges. Among the areas threatened by the storm is Lismore, a small city about eight hours north of Sydney, which suffered a catastrophic flood in 2022, which killed 22 people.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Thursday that he would approve Queensland and New South Wales' emergency federal funds for post-storage recovery efforts.
