Australians told to ‘prepare for worst’ as tropical cyclone nears

GOLD COAST, Australia: Violent winds toppled power lines on Friday as a tropical cyclone inched towards Australia´s eastern coast, swelling rivers, sparking evacuation orders and leaving 80,000 homes without electricity.

Tropical Cyclone Alfred was 125-kms east of Brisbane by Friday afternoon, crawling towards the densely populated coastline at “walking speed”, government forecasts said. Some four million people were in the firing line along a 400-kms stretch of coastline straddling the state border of Queensland and New South Wales.

It is a region rarely troubled by typhoons -- it has been more than 50 years since a tropical cyclone made landfall in that stretch of coast. No deaths have been reported, but police said one man was missing after his four-wheel drive vehicle was swept from a bridge into fast-running river water south of the cyclone.

“The male driver was able to exit the vehicle and secure himself to a tree branch,” New South Wales police said in a statement. But later, “the man was swept from the tree and seen to go beneath the water where he has not been sighted since.”

Heavy rains associated with the cyclone had already prompted flood warnings in the area. Around 80,000 homes were left in the dark across the two states as winds uprooted trees and brought down power lines, officials and utility companies said, as repair crews raced to restore electricity.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli said the storm already “packed a punch”, warning conditions would get worse as it approached land on Saturday morning. AFP images showed a white yacht blown into the rocks after snapping its moorings at Point Danger on the Gold Coast.

Two people made “a lucky escape” after a large gum tree crashed through the roof of a house in rural Currumbin Valley, the Queensland Ambulance Service said. Emergency response officials said they had issued evacuation orders for some 10,000 people in the flood-prone northern rivers region of New South Wales.

There was particular concern for the town of Lismore, which was engulfed by record 14-metre floodwaters after heavy rains in 2022. Many residents have spent the past three days fortifying their homes with sandbags, tying down loose furniture and stocking up on food and water.

“A lot of people are feeling a bit anxious, for sure, because we don´t know what´s going to happen,” said Paul Farrow from Coolangatta, a coastal suburb better known for its sun-splashed beaches.

“Yeah, we could all lose our houses. Who knows,” the 62-year-old told AFP. “The pubs might be shut for a week or two. Who knows.” Farrow said he had stashed a “couple of peaches”, a “couple of cartons of beer”, and “a bag of grapes” to get him through. “So I´ll be right,” he said. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the region should “hope for the best, but prepare for the worst”.

“When nature does its worst, Australians are at our best. We rally. We lift each other up. We look out for our neighbours,” he told reporters. Tropical Cyclone Alfred would likely cross the coast on Saturday, the Bureau of Meteorology said, although its path has proven increasingly difficult to track.

It was forecast to make landfall somewhere north of Brisbane. Drenching rains, “destructive” wind gusts, and “abnormally high tides” would pummel the coast as it crept nearer, the bureau said.

More than 900 schools across Queensland state and neighbouring parts of northern New South Wales were closed on Friday, education department officials said. While cyclones are common in the warm tropical waters lapping Australia´s northern flank, it is rarer for them to form in cooler waters further south.

Alfred would be the first to make landfall in that part of Australia since 1974, the Bureau of Meteorology said. Researchers have repeatedly warned that climate change amplifies the risk of natural disasters such as bushfires, floods and cyclones.