Cyclone Alfred live updates: Australia cancels more than 200 flights as rare Category 2 storm nears east coast

Cyclone Alfred has stalled off Australia’s east coast, delaying its expected landfall, as officials shut airports, schools and public transport.

Queensland residents are stockpiling supplies and sandbagging homes against likely flooding when the category-two storm hits.

The storm is now expected to make landfall by Friday evening near Brisbane, Australia’s third-most populous city, the Bureau of Meteorology said in its latest update, compared with a prior projection of a landfall by early Friday.

The storm’s destructive reach will stretch across the border regions of the states of Queensland and New South Wales, bringing heavy rain, flooding and damaging winds.

“It has slowed up somewhat, that (landfall) will now be at a later time,” prime minister Anthony Albanese told reporters.

“That is not all good news. The risk is that in slowing up, (the cyclone) increases in its intensity but at this stage it is still predicted to be category two as it crosses onto land.”

A 78-year-old woman was hospitalised with head injuries after being swept up by a large wave at Currumbin Beach on Wednesday evening.

The Queensland Ambulance Service confirmed she sustained a deep cut but was in stable condition at Gold Coast University Hospital.

Acting Mayor Donna Gates urged residents to avoid beaches as the storm nears.

Meta reportedly blocked or hid Facebook search results for “Cyclone Alfred” ahead of the storm’s landfall on Australia’s east coast, despite the platform being crucial for emergency updates.

Searches for the term led to nearly blank pages or Meta’s Climate Science Centre, which contained no cyclone-related information, ABC News reported.

Some general searches for cyclones still returned results, suggesting targeted suppression of “Cyclone Alfred”, the outlet said.

The Queensland government and federal officials contacted Meta about the issue, and some news content reappeared after inquiries, but restrictions remained on certain accounts and devices.

Searching for the hashtag #cyclonealfred resulted in a blank page with a message saying that “posts with cyclonealfred are temporarily hidden here due to content that violates our Community Standards”.

Tropical Cyclone Alfred is moving closer to the southeast Queensland and northern NSW coast, with damaging winds, storm surges, and life-threatening flash flooding expected to worsen overnight into Thursday.

Alfred is now just 325km east of Brisbane and 305km from the Gold Coast, according to the latest (5pm local time) update from the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM).

The area covered by the Cyclone Alfred warning zone stretches approximately 450-500 km along the east coast of Australia, from Double Island Point in Queensland to Ballina in New South Wales.

Damaging winds of 120kmph are already hitting Coolangatta and Ballina while gusts up to 155kmph could hit coastal areas as far south as Cape Byron from Thursday afternoon.

Dangerous storm tides could cause flooding in low-lying coastal areas if landfall coincides with high tide early Friday, the bureau said.

Heavy to locally intense rainfall is expected from late Thursday into Friday, increasing the risk of flash flooding. Alfred is forecast to make landfall early Friday between Maroochydore and Coolangatta as a Category 2 cyclone.

With Tropical Cyclone Alfred approaching, authorities are ramping up preparations to support communities, prime minister Anthony assured residents.

The Australian Defence Force is on standby with personnel and vehicles, and additional sandbags have been delivered, he added.

A major electricity distributor in NSW is urging residents to prepare for potential power outages as Tropical Cyclone Alfred approaches.

Essential energy’s Mark Summers warned that rural areas face the highest risk of prolonged blackouts, with flooding, strong winds, and softened soil likely to bring down trees onto power lines.

“Rural areas are most at risk for longer outages than some of the locations that are going to be in the path of the cyclone,” Mr Summers said.

“We have good systems in place to isolate sections of network when they do come under fault conditions, but there’s always an opportunity that something could still be energised.”

He advised people to stay away from fallen power lines and report them to Essential Energy’s emergency line at 13 20 80.

More schools in NSW are closing this week due to the potential impacts of Tropical Cyclone Alfred, including flooding risks.

Over 230 public schools, 29 Catholic schools, five independent schools, and 16 TAFE campuses have shut down, with two TAFE campuses now serving as evacuation centres.

NSW education minister Prue Car emphasised that safety is the top priority.

“While we usually do not advocate for the closure of schools and places of learning, in these circumstances, an abundance of caution can be what keeps our community safe.”

Schools are expected to reopen on Monday, 10 March.

Prime minister Anthony Albanese says: “I want residents in southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales to know that we are prepared. We will get through this – together.”

Prime minister Anthony Albanese says that the Australian Defence Force (ADF) is now formally engaged in responding to Tropical Cyclone Alfred, as the system threatens Queensland and northern New South Wales.

An additional 250,000 sandbags will be delivered to the Queensland government, he told the media.

“We put in place a national supply; 125,000 of those have already been delivered,” Mr Albanese says. “That’s on top of the 80,000 that were delivered by the ADF already.”

Gold Coast Airport will shut down from 4pm AEST on Wednesday due to the approaching cyclone.

“Passengers affected will be contacted by their airline regarding their options to reschedule travel,” a statement from Gold Coast Airport said.

“The terminal building will be closed and there will be no public access from this time. For anyone seeking shelter, the closest evacuation centre is at Burleigh Waters Community Centre at 111 Christine Ave, Burleigh Waters.”