Cyclone Alfred to pummel south-east Queensland and northern NSW coast

Tropical cyclone Alfred is on track to hit south-east Queensland later this week, the first time the region has been impacted by a cyclone in more than 50 years.

Queenslanders in the heavily populated south-east corner of the state have been issued alerts to be prepared while those living on the bay islands have been warned to leave.

Current tracking has the cyclone impacting the coast as a category two storm on Thursday, with the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane in its path.

7News Queensland meteorologist Tony Auden said the category one cyclone, which was sitting more than 400km off the Sunshine Coast on Monday, was expected to continue moving south-east before intensifying.

“Longer term, Alfred is expected to re-intensify to category two as a ‘hybrid’ cyclone, then barrel back towards the coast in the middle to later parts of the week,” he said.

“A hybrid cyclone takes it’s energy from a mixture of warm ocean water (like a tropical cyclone) and from ‘baroclinic’ influences in the upper atmosphere (like an East Coast Low).”

Auden said that, as a hybrid, Cyclone Alfred was unlikely to return to category 3.

“So don’t expect to see scenes of palm trees flying in 200kph plus winds like we see in the tropics,” Auden said.

“Technical aspects aside, Alfred is then likely to have a big impact on the coast later this week.”

The last cyclone to cross the south-east Queensland coast was Zoe in 1974.

“But forecast models vary from Wednesday night to Friday night, between K’gari and the Gold Coast, with anything from a tropical low, up to a strong category two system,” he said.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli told Queenslanders to be prepared and warned those who live on the Moreton Bay islands to consider leaving.

“We are dealing with a very heavily populated part of the state, a state that hasn’t seen a cyclone for many years — in fact many decades — get this close to the coast, or predicted to,” Mr Crisafulli told reporters.

“Anyone who lives on those bay islands ... we are asking them to begin with earnestness to start making their plans and considerations.”

Generators have been sent to Bay Island communities facing the choice of whether to stay or evacuate, the premier said.

He urged residents to prepare by compiling important documents, having tinned food and water and tying down any loose items outside.

Council areas along the coast opened sandbagging stations with locals reporting some stations in the Moreton Bay council area had run out of sand by Monday afternoon.

The expected damaging winds and heavy rainfall will pummel the coast from Grafton in NSW up to Bundaberg in Queensland in the coming days.

State Emergency Service Commissioner Mike Wassing urged residents in the northern NSW region devastated by flooding three years ago to begin sandbagging amid fears the cyclone may cause life-threatening river rises.

The Northern Rivers is only just getting back on its feet after flooding that claimed five lives and destroyed homes.

“After landfall, the main concern turns to rain and flooding. We could see short bursts of heavy rain leading to potentially life-threatening flash flooding, and longer periods of rain leading to riverine flooding,” Auden said.

“The severity of this river flooding will mainly depend on how long Alfred, and the rain, hang around. Flood watches have been issued right across the region.”

NSW Emergency Services Minister Jihad Dib assured locals the authorities were doing “everything we can” to prepare for the looming system.

“We’re cognisant of what the Northern Rivers have gone through and some of the trauma that they carry,” he said.

The NSW region could be impacted by extreme winds of 100km/h, rainfall up to 300mm on Thursday and Friday and waves exceeding eight metres.

Winds at the centre of the cyclone are currently 95 km/h with gusts of up to 130 km/h.

Alfred is already impacting the coast causing waves up to 15 metres, leading to significant erosion from K’gari south to the Gold Coast.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued a tropical cyclone watch for Northern NSW on Monday.

“This is unusual for NSW . . . we don’t often have tropical cyclone watches and warnings in the NSW jurisdiction,” Bureau of Meteorology’s Steven Bernasconi said.

A flood watch is in place for rivers from Maryborough, in Queensland’s Wide Bay region, south to the NSW border.

The bureau will be watching for major rises in the Mary, Noosa, Brisbane, Logan and Albert Rivers this week.

Meanwhile the Brisbane Lions have urged the AFL to consider postponing the season opening round match against the Geelong Cats at the Gabba.

However the league is taking a wait-and-see approach, saying it would wait until Thursday to make a decision.