‘Take shelter now in the strongest part of the building’: emergency alert for Moreton Bay islands
Andrew Messenger
An emergency alert has been issued by the Redland city council for islands in Moreton Bay.
It orders residents to “take shelter now in the strongest part of the building you are in”.
Bay island communities will be among the first in Queensland to be affected by Tropical Cyclone Alfred, which is expected to begin hitting them overnight.
The alert was issued on behalf of the council at 2.01pm.
Key events
Ima Caldwell
Mullumbimby resident ‘frustrated’ and ‘scared’ as family evacuates
Mullumbimby resident Cara Gallagher evacuated her home at midday today, with her three children, husband and dog.
They began to experience intermittent power outages this morning.
Gallagher lived through the 2022 floods, having to evacuate in hip-height water. With the help of strangers she was able to kayak to safety.
This time she and her family are getting out early, to stay with friends who aren’t at risk of flooding.
[I am] just frustrated to still be in this situation and … scared for the future.
She also highlighted the relationship between climate change and impacts of the cyclone on her local community.
Everyone should be thinking about who they’re going to vote for, people who believe in climate change.
‘Take shelter now in the strongest part of the building’: emergency alert for Moreton Bay islands
Andrew Messenger
An emergency alert has been issued by the Redland city council for islands in Moreton Bay.
It orders residents to “take shelter now in the strongest part of the building you are in”.
Bay island communities will be among the first in Queensland to be affected by Tropical Cyclone Alfred, which is expected to begin hitting them overnight.
The alert was issued on behalf of the council at 2.01pm.
Watch: ‘Exact track still uncertain’, but BoM warns of destructive weather
Tropical Cyclone Alfred has moved erratically, but is expected to approach the Bay Islands before moving across Moreton Bay tomorrow morning and then to the north of the Brisbane CBD.
However, the Bureau of Meteorology’s Matthew Collopy said the “exact track is still uncertain” and warnings will now be updated every hour. If you missed his comments earlier, you can watch below:
Slow-moving cyclone ‘actually worse for our city’ due to extended heavy rain, says acting GC mayor
Gates warns of “very windy impacts” after midnight tonight and through tomorrow, as well as rainfall bringing the potential for flooding. The Gold Coast acting mayor gave a live update a short while ago.
Alfred is currently sitting about 150km east of Brisbane, and is moving 7km/h at a “slow jog pace,” as reported earlier in the blog.
“The slow moving system is actually is worse for our city,” Gates says.
It increases the risk of heavy rain over an extended period. So this again is a concern in relation to flooding.
Major flood warnings have been issued for the Logan and Albert Rivers, and expected rainfall totals over 24 hours are upward of 300mm to 400mm as the system crosses.
We hope things will start to improve Monday to Wednesday. There will still be showers remaining but hopefully a lot less than we see over the next 24 hours.
‘Everyone should stay home’, Gold Coast acting mayor says
Gold Coast residents are being urged to stay home from 4pm in rooms with no windows as winds are expected to strengthen.
“Real risk remains,” Gold Coast acting mayor Donna Gates says.
From 4pm today we’d like to stress everyone should stay home. The advice is that the event will significantly increase in intensity and it’s time to be safe at home.
The strongest winds will be occurring … from 4pm on today, and in that situation it is recommended if anyone has any concern about their safety in their home, they should go to the smallest room with no windows.
‘Stay away from the sand and out of the water’: acting Gold Coast mayor
Two teenagers were rescued at Southport earlier today by Surf Life Saving QLD, Gates says.
The acting mayor reiterates her warning for residents to stay away from beaches:
We’ve been repeating for days now that people should stay away from the beach. Stay away from the sand and out of the water. Don’t stand on any of the infrastructure to take photographs because the foundations of much of the infrastructure has already been compromised as we’ve spoken about. So please listen to this warning.
We had another two teenagers rescued by Surf Life Saving Queensland at Southport just earlier today and I understand from police that there are still about four kids in the water ignoring the warnings to get out. It’s very, very foolish and very, very dangerous.
Gold Coast acting mayor says 38,000 dwellings without power
The acting mayor for Gold Coast, Donna Gates, says 38,000 dwellings are without power, “mostly at Coolangatta and here”. She is speaking live with updates on the region as Cyclone Alfred nears.
At Springbrook, 150mm of rain has hit, and 100mm at Coolangatta. There has been complete beach erosion at Main Beach, and four to six-metre escarpment off the beach from Southport to Nobby.
“Many of the structures beachside have been compromised,” she says. There are 285 work orders already in place, and the SES has 334 jobs outstanding.
Emily Wind
Many thanks for joining me on the blog today – there’s been a lot of important information to get through, and I appreciate you being here.
Rafqa Touma will take the reins for the rest of the afternoon, to bring you all the latest on TC Alfred and other news making headlines across the country. The Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, is due to speak in around an hour’s time, and Rafqa will bring you all the key information.
To everyone on the east coast affected by the cyclone, please take care and look after yourself – and each other.
Woman attacked by shark in Sydney’s south
Moving away from the cyclone for a moment, a woman has been pulled from a beach in Sydney’s south with serious leg injuries after being attacked by a shark.
NSW police said at about 1.30pm today, emergency services were called to Gunyah Beach near Bundeena after reports of a shark attack.
The woman, aged in her 30s, is being treated by paramedics at the scene for serious leg injuries.
NSW Ambulance said multiple resources were on scene and it is likely the woman will be airlifted to hospital.
Flooding affecting parts of northern NSW, including Byron and Lismore
Here are some more photos that are filtering through from across northern NSW today, as Tropical Cyclone Alfred brings flooding to Byron Bay and Lismore.
Latest TC Alfred observations from the Bureau of Meteorology
Jonathan How from the Bureau of Meteorology has just spoken with ABC TV to provide the weather agencies’ latest TC Alfred observations. To recap, he said:
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The cyclone is sitting 150km east of Brisbane and is moving 7km/h at a “slow jog pace”.
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Wind activity is set to “readily increase” further inland tonight around the Gold Coast.
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Heavier rain will also intensify today, particularly around northern NSW.
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There is still a “long way to go before the actual crossing, but we’re already seeing dangerous conditions out there”.
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TC Alfred is likely to move towards Moreton Island and North Stradbroke Island tonight, slowing right down and maybe even stalling at times.
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The first danger is huge waves and well, exacerbating coastal erosion, especially at high tide.
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Destructive winds are forecast as the system moves closer, including above 150km/h at the Gold Coast.
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Intense rainfall is forecast no matter what category the cyclone is in when it crosses the coast.
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All computer models show TC Alfred crossing the coast; the uncertainty is around what time this will occur.
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The latest modelling shows the crossing happening late Saturday morning or early afternoon, but “people should not be hung up on the time” because intense impacts will be felt no matter what.
75,000 remain without power across south-east Queensland and northern NSW
Let’s check back in on the power outages across south-east Queensland and northern NSW.
According to Energex, 44,646 customers in south-east Queensland remain without power. This has grown from 39,129 earlier today.
In NSW, the latest update on the Essential Energy website says 43,000 homes and businesses are without power. But at a press conference this afternoon, authorities said this had been brought back down to just over 36,000.
This means that across the two states, about 75,000 people are without power.
Energy companies in both states have indicated crews are on standby to assess the damage and repair infrastructure, only when it is safe to do so.
Brisbane man’s car trapped by e-scooters ahead of cyclone
E-scooters in Brisbane have been gathered in an empty lot in Perry Lane in Spring Hill ahead of the cyclone.
Unfortunately, a car was parked there as well. It had been parked in the spot for two days until Lime and Neuron moved their e-scooters to the location, according to the person who filmed the video.
The man was then forced to painstakingly rearrange the e-scooters to free his car. You can have a watch below:
Heavy winds and flooding lashes Tintenbar on NSW north coast
Here are some photos that are coming through from Tintenbar, on the Far North Coast of NSW, where heavy winds have left roads covered in debris and heavy rainfall is causing flooding.
Schrinner said dams not expected to contribute to flooding
Adrian Schrinner also said there is currently no indication that dams will contribute to flooding in any way:
It’s the creeks across Brisbane and South East Queensland that we are more concerned about. Obviously the situation can change but at this point in time, there’s no information to suggest we should worry about the dams.
With that, the press conference has wrapped up.
Brisbane lord mayor says no one will be turned away from cyclone shelters
Adrian Schrinner also stressed that no one would be turned away from cyclone shelters:
If someone is outside trying to get in, we will let them in. We encourage people not to go out of the shelter during the height of the cyclone, but certainly we’ll let people in.
