Brisbane braces for Cyclone Alfred’s late arrival

• Follow our live coverage for Cyclone Alfred here.

Brisbane was eerily calm on Friday as Cyclone Alfred started its final push towards the south-east Queensland coast, bringing with it destructive winds, dangerous swells and increasingly heavy rain.

As blue sky broke through the clouds over Brisbane about 5pm Friday, Cyclone Alfred was 105 kilometres off the coast, making its inexorable westward journey towards the Queensland capital – tipped to make landfall north of the CBD early on Saturday.

The deserted M1 in Brisbane on Friday.Credit: Dan Peled

But while the city itself was calm, the Gold Coast and Moreton Bay communities were already feeling Alfred’s impact, with severe erosion on the coast and bay residents urged to immediately seek shelter.

Alfred had originally been tipped to reach the coast by Wednesday, but its erratic and wobbly path pushed back its expected arrival several times during the week.

Bureau of Meteorology Brisbane manager Matthew Collopy said Alfred, which had moved erratically as it approached the coast, was expected to be downgraded to category 1 as it crossed Moreton Bay early Saturday morning.

“This will mean destructive winds are unlikely in Brisbane itself, but damaging wind gusts to 120km/h are expected, particularly on the bayside suburbs around the southern flank of the system,” he said.

Sandbags being filled at Toowong Bowls Club on Friday,Credit: Dan Peled

Residents had been urged to stay off the roads, as emergency services prepared for the worst of the storm.

Just under 60,000 Energex customers were without power at 7pm Friday, the electricity provider reported, and that number was expected to rise dramatically as wind strength increased.

Elective surgeries had already been cancelled and, on Friday afternoon, Queensland Premier David Crisafulli said other health services were already starting to be directly impacted.

“The Redlands Satellite Health Centre has temporarily closed due to potential flood risk, but critical medical equipment has been relocated, as has the staff,” he said.

“So if there are people who require kidney dialysis or chemotherapy, they will still get that treatment – and that has been communicated directly to them.

“Wynnum-Manly Primary Care Clinic has temporarily closed for safety and that’s related to back-up power supply – staff have also been redeployed.

“All hospitals remain open for emergency care.”

Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner warned flooding across the city would be “very different” to previous floods that have inundated the region, with residents to see more widespread impacts.

“In 2011, we had the Mud Army [to help with recovery], and that worked so well because there were parts of the city that were affected by river flood, but there were many parts ... that weren’t affected at all,” he said.

Erosion at the Southport Spit on Friday.Credit: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

Schrinner compared Alfred’s threat with the 2022 Brisbane flood, for which he said there was “next to no warning”.

Collopy said more rain fell in February 2022 – some parts of Brisbane received 1100 metres in three days – than was expected from Alfred.

Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie, meanwhile, warned of supply shortages in Queensland supermarkets after the cyclone passes through, with supply chains set for some major short-term disruption.

“Tropical Cyclone Alfred is likely to hit shore the land midday [Saturday], and then it’s important for the workers of the supermarkets to be where they need to be – as safe as possible,” he said on Friday.

“It’s also clear that distribution centres, as of this afternoon, have started to close down.”

Bleijie said shoppers would have to be patient once the cyclone passes.

“As you’d appreciate farms will be impacted, freight logistics to fill the supermarkets shelves will be challenging, particularly if staff have properties that are impacted,” he said.

“So I think all Queenslanders will understand and appreciate natural disasters and a little bit of patience and care for our retail hospitality workers in the next few days.”

Empty shelves at Coolangatta Woolworths as Cyclone Alfred approached.Credit: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

Amid the angst, though, a little joy. Crisafulli said a young mum, hunkered down at Dunwich on North Stradbroke Island, gave birth to twins overnight on Thursday.

“We had paramedics and midwives who assisted the mum, and they continued to care for her,” he said.

“That’s a one of those little gems in an otherwise really, really stressful time for everybody.”

Acting Queensland Police Commissioner Shane Chelepy said telecommunications had been cut in some Gold Coast areas due to 26 mobile base stations losing power and running out of battery.

Chelepy said affected suburbs included Balinga, Balinga North, Binna Burra, Burleigh Waters, Coolangatta, Parkwood, Bundall, Reedy Creek, Mudgeeraba, Currumbin, Springbrook and O’Reilly’s retreat in the Gold Coast hinterland.

“NBN outages which affect the landlines are also occurring in those same areas, and the moment it is safe to do so, our telcos, who we have been engaged with, will get into those areas and try to get generation to those stations,” he said.

Crisafulli said he remained confident in south-east Queenslanders’ resolve as Alfred neared their homes.

“I know this is an unusual event – it’s been a long time since the cyclone across the coast this far south, but the way that people have treated this has been quite frankly remarkable,” he said.

“The vast majority of people have done the right thing, and my view is if you give people the information, humans rally in times of crisis.”

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