Millions have been told to hunker down as ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred heads towards the coast where hundreds of thousands of residents have lost power.
Tropical Cyclone Alfred has been downgraded to a tropical low but millions of Australians have been warned to hunker down for dangerous conditions including flash flooding, heavy rain and intense winds.
The ex-tropical cyclone is on track to cross the coast on Saturday morning, with a severe weather warning issued for most of southeast Queensland and northern NSW.
“The category of a tropical cyclone is only dependent on the wind gusts so while the winds are backing off a little bit, the rain is still coming through in full force,” weather bureau Senior Meteorologist Miriam Bradbury told ABC TV.
“We’re still seeing widespread flash flooding, widespread impacts likely to continue through today and well into tomorrow as well.”
Locally, flood warnings have been issued for the Severn River at Ashford, the Gwydir River at Gravesend, the Namoi River at Gunnedah and Narrabri, and the Peel River at Tamworth. While 750ml has been dumped at Dorrigo in recent days, the biggest rainfalls are expected around the black soil plains of the New England according to analysis by the ABC’s Meterologist’s Tom Saunders. He says Sunday event totals may reach around 50mm east of a line from Stanthorpe to Glen Innes to Armidale while parts of the western ranges pick up more than 50mm. The five day total (pictured above) are expected to be over 100ml for Moree through to Gunnedah.
The severe weather warning remains in place for Guyra to Tenterfield, but the advice has been downgraded this morning from ‘watch and act – stay indoors’ to a general advice to monitor conditions.
Wild weather pummelled coastal communities overnight, with 120 millimetres of rain recorded at the Gold Coast and 130mm at Lismore since 9am on Friday.
Some 240,000 homes and businesses have lost power in southeast Queensland and thousands more have been warned to brace for ongoing outages.
Dozens of evacuation alerts have been issued for communities in northern NSW and the Lismore levee is expected to spill later on Saturday.
A man remains missing in floodwaters in Megan near Dorrigo after he was swept away by rushing water as he clung to a tree. His car had been washed off a bridge, and emergency workers were able to speak to him, but before they could get to him he was swept under by the floodwaters.
Significant impacts are expected from Double Island Point in Queensland down to Yamba in NSW.
“We’re asking people to have a plan. That’s the greatest thing you can have in this,” Queensland Premier David Crisafulli said.
Those in NSW’s northern rivers region face an anxious wait, with about 19,000 residents told to leave.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said a team of 66 disaster response personnel have arrived from New Zealand to assist, as hardship payments for those who are unable to work activate.
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