Cyclone Alfred: NSW orders evacuations near Qld border, Lismore and on the Richmond River

Towns and suburbs in northern NSW were told evacuate by 9pm Thursday under a new pre-emptive strategy to protect residents from being caught by flood waters during the night.

The evacuation gave residents four hours to get out of Lismore, Fingal Head, just south of the Queensland border near Tweed Heads, and villages further south on the Richmond River.

Even though radar images showed rainfall in the region was light to moderate late Thursday afternoon, early evacuation protocols have been adopted to avoid a repeat of 2022, when residents of Lismore and surrounding areas were warned to leave their homes just after midnight to escape massive floods that devastated the town.

The weather bureau predicts the slow-moving category two Cyclone Alfred will reach land around 1am on Saturday morning just north of Brisbane.

“Hurricane Alfred is behaving at the moment like a completely unwanted houseguest,” NSW Premier Chris Minns said Thursday morning. “It’s told us that it’s going to be late, but linger even longer.”

Avoiding night evacuations

While the cyclone’s full force will hit south-east Queensland, 24 towns across NSW’s northern rivers and coastal region were warned Thursday morning to stay indoors and prepare clothes and essential documents if emergency evacuations became necessary.

“We are looking at those river systems and the river heights,” said Stuart Fisher, an acting chief superintendent of the State Emergency Service. “We’ve got certain triggers points ready for that to occur and when they do reach that, we will then issue the evacuation order.

“We are very conscious that we don’t particularly want to issue them at night, and if we can do it prior to that, we will do so.”

If the cyclone stops moving, 600 to 700 millimetres of rainfall could hit the region and cause significant flooding, Mr Fisher said. Otherwise there would be 300 to 400 millimetres of rain, he said.

Bad memories

The warnings reminded many residents of 2022, when Lismore was hit by two of the biggest floods in its history. Many homes and businesses in the town, which is built on a floodplain, became uninsurable.

The floods led to investment in rescue equipment across the region, including drones and high-wheeled vehicles that can safely get through flood waters. The equipment is on standby for use if Cyclone Alfred does not peter out.

On Thursday, briefings were held across the region to explain to residents what they should do if asked to evacuate and where they can go. Fifteen evacuation centres have opened to house people who want to leave their homes before the storm hits.

The accommodation is basic and residents would be better to stay with friends or family, officials said.

As 300,000 sandbags were being distributed to protect homes from floods, defence force personnel arrived to support 2000 volunteers from the State Emergency Service. Some 200 electricians and linesmen are ready if powerlines are knocked out.

Mr Minns, speaking in Lismore, promised to stay in the area until the storm arrived. One of the lessons of the 2022 floods was that “it’s important that decisions are not made 1000km away in Sydney and people understand what’s going on on the ground,” he said.

Heavy surf and king tides have already begun to swamp the coastline. In the town of Ballina, about 85km south of Queensland border, a local surf report estimated the waves were 10 to 12 feet high, or about two to three times the size of an adult.

The town’s nine-metre-high big prawn tourist attraction lost an antenna in the wild weather too, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.