Cyclone Alfred smashes Gold Coast: Labrador smashed with damage city wide
Gold Coast landmarks including the dome atop the Moroccan in Surfers Paradise and parts of a mini-golf course favourite are among Cyclone Alfred casualties. FULL WRAP OF DAMAGE
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The northern suburb of Labrador is among the worst-hit by Cyclone Alfred with residents evacuated, power lines down and roofs ripped off amid wild citywide damage.
Labrador residents were kept awake from screaming galeforce winds and police sirens and as their older homes and units were hammered as Cyclone Alfred - now an ex-tropical cyclone - made landfall overnight.
Community leader Jenna Schroeder, the administrator on Labrador 4215 Facebook group, said volunteers worked throughout Friday night and early Saturday morning helping neighbours.
“It’s a reminder that while we can’t control the weather, we can control how we show up for our neighbours — and Labrador does that incredibly well,” she said.
It was just one of multiple suburbs in the tourism capital with chaotic damage including downed trees onto buildings and blocked roadways.
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Ms Shroeder said: “After a morning of patchy outages (on Friday) most of Labrador lost power last night, and by this morning the entire suburb was in the dark.
“We’ve seen fallen power lines, particularly near Labrador State School, and people in the community have been stepping up to help each other out.
“We had sirens blaring, a home crushed in Morinda Way, and later found out an apartment building on Frank Street had lost its roof, forcing evacuations.”
Heavy damage and power lines down at HOTA pic.twitter.com/f5GjBMMKwp
— Andrew Potts (@GCS_Pottsy) March 7, 2025
Police confirmed 15 residents had been evacuated form the Frank Street premises after the roof was damaged as a result of high winds.
One woman was taken to hospital with minor injuries and the others were transported to Burleigh Heads Evacuation Centre.
In vision of the emergency evacuation released by Queensland Police Service an officer can be heard saying to a resident the entire roof had been compromised.
About 122 people are in evacuation centres. At least 47 are at Runaway Bay, showing the impact of the cyclone on the north of the city.
Energex has confirmed 8110 outages in Labrador, and 3499 in nearby Biggera Waters.
In stunning footage obtained by onlookers, cyclonic winds lifted the roof off a motel on Whiting Street, peeling back the tin sheets and leaving sections up to 100 metres down the road.
“That wind was seriously - it sounded like a jet. Scared the sh** out of me,” resident Chloe Stewart said
“I think it was 10ish maybe a bit later I heard almost a crumpling sound. It was as if someone was banging really loud on a metal fence.
“When I’ve gone onto the balcony I seen the roof up in the air in the corner just flapping and banging in the breeze.”
Large trees have brought down powerlines on Government Road landing on cars and homes. Police have closed one section to traffic near Whiting Street, however there are a number of other areas where power lines are dangling dangerously low to the ground and hanging across footpaths.
Winds gusts are still so strong - on Saturday morning - that large wooden branches are becoming projectiles.
Ms Gates revealed a power pole on the Gold Coast Highway had been snapped in half by winds gusting at up to 107km/h overnight.
The winds brought down towering trees including 30m Norfolk pines at Mermaid Beach and Labrador.
SURFERS PARADISE
Wild winds continued to strike Surfers Paradise throughout the day and sea foam could be seen blowing streets back from the water yet big crowds were still drawn out to experience the recently-cyclonic conditions.
Despite minor damage of scattered debris and branches the Glitter Strip was a hub for crowds.
Five kebabs stores were open for business on the strip and one jewellers with many flocking for a much needed warm meal.
The Moroccan on Elkhorn avenue was completely missing its dome, torn off on Friday evening by the strong winds.
Espl. Coffee was still trading under a pay it forward system; loud music blaring and people dancing, amongst them owner Bianca Holgate attempting to raise moral.
Police tape blocking off the area was largely ignored but aside from a downed tree next to the Paradise centre the area was largely without major damage.
BUNDALL
Serious damage was seen at Bundall’s Home of the Arts (HOTA) where many trees were brought down, taking powerlines with them and destroying a bus stop.
Bundall Road was left impassable, with police turning away motorists on both sides of the arts precinct.
BEACHES BATTERING
Cr Gates said the Gold Coast’s famous beaches had copped more battering overnight, with the cyclonic seas carving out 4-6m erosion cliffs from Southport to Nobby Beach.
She said the Gold Coast University Hospital and John Flynn Private Hospital at Tugun had been hit with power cuts, exacerbated by refuelling problems with generators.
More than 130,000 homes and businesses were without power and 40 traffic signals were out across the Gold Coast along with council CCTV cameras and many mobile phone towers, causing havoc with communications.
The SES had logged more than 200 jobs on the Coast overnight, Cr Gates said.
And she warned the carnage was not over.
“It’s going to get worse, not better,” she said.
“People think because the system has crossed the coast it’s going to ease off but it’s not.
“The briefings I’ve received this morning say we’re still potentially facing winds of up to 120km/h and more rainfall of up to 255mm.
“That poses a real flooding risk because the ground is already saturated.”
Ms Gates said Energex workers had started assessing and repairing damage and more would join them “as soon as it’s safe for them to be working”.
She said council crews were also out doing what they could.
“The impacts are very severe,” she said.
“We were well prepared for it, but it’s still really disappointing to see the extensive damage around the city.”
Around other parts of the Gold Coast damage and impacts are widespread.
TALLE VALLEY FLOODING
Flooding is affecting Tallebudgera Valley where the majority of traffic lights are out.
Coplick Family Park, home of Gold Coast United FC, was completely inundated.
Backyards on Larch St were rapidly being swallowed. A group of kids was seen kayaking underneath a clothesline in their new water frontage.
SURFERS GOLF CLUB
The normally pristine and manicured fairways of the Surfers Paradise Golf Club have heavily damaged, with large trees uprooted and tearing down fences.
Meanwhile police halted traffic on Bundall Road just past the Monaco St flyover as a fallen tree blocked one lane.
Officers used a chainsaw to fell part of the tree to clear space for traffic,
Many traffic lights in Southport and Ashmore are not functioning, causing the few drivers out on the road to carefully navigate their way through.
PARADISE POINT CARNAGE
Paradise Point residents woke to dozens of huge downed trees, missing fences and shade sails plus leaking houses.
At one home, a fence has blown down, with parts of it breaking of and smashing through the windows of a ute parked inside.
Despite the ongoing gusts and rain, many locals were out and about on Friday morning, including Jack and Kayla Kirby, walking their three dogs.
Jack, 11, said: “Our place got lots of wind, lots of rain. My pool is overflowing and the roof has leaked a bit.”
On the Esplanade, multiple large Norfolk pines and coastal banksias have toppled, with crews already at work and removing giant trunks and branches that had blocked the road.
But amid the damage, hundreds of Paradise Point locals packed the bowlo, which opened at 11am to a waiting crowd. The line to order food stretched the length of the club with people willing to wait for a post-cyclone parmy.
“We’ve got a full generator, full power facilities and we’re going to open up for charging stations, baby bottles, hot coffee, lunch - whatever the community needs, we will be here,” manager Kat Vidal said.
“We’ll just trade for as long as we feel it’s safe for our staff to travel home.”
In idyllic Miami Beach, the local surf club had a near miss with a falling tree just outside its front.
Just up the road, the Mermaid Beach Putt Putt mini golf appeared to have suffered extensive damage.
State Housing Minister Sam O’Connor by mid-morning Saturday was the checking the damage in his Bonney electorate.
“Our part of the Gold Coast got hit pretty hard overnight. My thoughts are with the people in Labrador who were evacuated overnight and I’m glad they were able to be moved to safety,” Mr O’Connor said.
“To everyone who has been impacted, help is available. Please reach out via the SES or emergency services.”
Mr O’Connor said he had lost power to his Parkwood property but there was no damage.
“Once it is safe for them to be on the ground, Energex teams and over 800 Ergon workers from up north will be working hard to get people reconnected,” he said.
Mr O’Connor warned that fallen power lines could be under tree debris.
“I’m urging people to be careful and report them to the council or SES,” he said.
Southern Gold Coast
Despite power and internet patchy at best for southern Gold Coast residents, some have taken to social media to share concern about their toilets making gurgling noises.
“My internal drains and toilet are gurgling… assuming the sewerage drains are full and we are expecting so much more rain,” Callie Hutchins wrote on social media.
Codi Fahey from Coastal Plumbing Professionals took to social media to tell Palm Beach residents that the noise was likely caused by flooding in the sewer main.
Another plumber, Travis McGregor said the best advice was to seal any toilets to stop sewerage washing back into homes.
Mr McGregor said it could take some time for the sewerage system to kick back in, especially if the pumps have been affected by power outages.
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