Tropical Cyclone Alfred news and updates, Friday March 7

The Bureau of Meteorology has shared a new image of Cyclone Aldred’s predicted path.

The map shows two red blobs, which show the areas containing the tropical cyclone’s most destructive update.

Those destructive zones are already starting to hit both QLD and NSW, with wild winds and rain lashing the states.

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Cyclone Alfred has again slowed, with a new area now identified for its likely landfall.

Redcliffe in the city of Morton Bay is where Cyclone Alfred is expected to hit, with Saturday morning predicted as when landfall will occur.

Extremely damaging winds, rain and thunderstorms are already hitting most of the southeast coast of Queensland and the northeast coast of New South Wales.

There are about 30,000 people without power as wind and trees bring down power lines.

Cyclone Alfred is currently located around 195km west of Brisbane, however, officials are warning locals to take warnings seriously and not go out into dangerous weather.

​​Read the full story here.​​

The Bureau of Meteorology has now amended the landfall impact zone to Redcliffe in the City of Moreton Bay, located around 30km north of Brisbane.

Alfred is still moving slowly toward the eastern seaboard coast and is not expected to reach land until the early hours of Saturday morning.

The massive weather front’s ‘eye’ is around 200km off the coast of Queensland as most residents on Queensland and NSW wake up on Friday morning.

Overnight, tens of thousands of residents lost power with trees and power lines tumbling, and the Brisbane CBD is being described as being like a ‘ghost town’.

Mark Riley says:

“Anthony Albanese insists he isn’t giving it any thought.

His mind, he says, is entirely on the people of Brisbane, the southern Queensland coast and the NSW north coast as they hunker down in anticipation of Alfred’s destructive arrival.

But he must be giving it some passing consideration.

It would be unavoidable.

Journalists aren’t the only people curious about how the cyclone’s arrival might affect his thinking on whether to visit the Governor-General on Sunday or Monday to call an election for April 12.

Two hundred and twenty-six colleagues in the Parliament, their many hundreds of staff, tens of thousands of bureaucrats, thousands of campaign workers and, indeed, a sizeable proportion of the Australian voting public would be asking him the same thing if they had the chance.”

​READ MARK RILEY​’​S​​FULL O​​PINION HERE​

Major airlines Qantas and Virgin have temporarily halted flights from Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Ballina on Friday and Saturday.

A Virgin Australia spokesperson has advised passengers that flights may resume on Sunday if it is safe to do so.

Virgin Australia said impacted passengers will be conacted directly to rearrange alternative flights.

Qantas also suspended Group flights to and from Coffs Harbour as of midnight on Wednesday.

A Qantas spokesperson said “If you wish to change your booking or no longer wish to travel, we’re offering a travel credit or fee-free date change - up to 14 days from the original date of travel, subject to availability.”

Passengers travelling via either airline are urged to regularly check their carrier’s website for updates.

Heavy rainfall is developing for southeast Queensland and northeastern New South Wales.

Heavy to locally intense rainfall which may lead to dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding may occur near and south of the cyclone centre as Alfred approaches and crosses the coast.

Lismore is expected to begin flooding, with more rainfall than initially expected, partly because Cyclone Alfred is slowing down.

More than 17,000 homes are without power in south east Queensland.

Coolangatta is the worst-hit area, with nearly 4000 properties impacted by the blackout.

Currumbin Waters has 2,273 without power and Mudgeeraba has 1,467.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued an updated adivce at 11pm saying, the centre of Alfred is expected to cross the coast Friday night or early Saturday morning, most likely between Noosa and Coolangatta.

The system is currently a category two and is expected to remain at that strength until it crosses the coast.

The warning zone is: Double Island Point in Queensland to Grafton in New South Wales, including Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Byron Bay and Ballina but not including Grafton.

Time is running out for people in North Shore, Limeburners Creek and Riverside to evacuate, with SES NSW saying people need to be out of the area by 1am.

“You must evacuate before this time because high tide and storm surges will cause isolation in this area,” the warning stated.

If you are unable to find accommodation, an evacuation centre has been set up at:

• Panthers Port Macquarie, 1 Bay Street, Port Macquarie NSW