The storm is forecast to cause heavy flooding and severely disrupt transport services. Officials are urging residents to take shelter or evacuate.
Authorities in Australia have ordered thousands of people along the country’s eastern coast to evacuate due to Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
The cyclone has also caused rivers to swell and left some 80,000 homes in the states of Queensland and New South Wales without power.
Alfred, a Category 2 storm, was around 125 kilometers (80 miles) east of Brisbane on Friday afternoon and is expected to make landfall on Saturday, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said.
Residents told to ‘prepare for the worst’
As Tropical Cyclone Alfred continues “to move towards the coast, and rain and wind will intensify as we head into Friday night and Saturday,” BOM meteorologist Jonathan How said.
While the slow-moving storm’s progress has proven difficult to track, it is expected to hit land north of Brisbane, Australia’s third most populous city.
Around 4 million people live along the 400-kilometer (250-mile) stretch of coastline expected to be affected by the storm.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese urged residents in the region to “hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.”
“When nature does its worst, Australians are at our best. We rally. We lift each other up. We look out for our neighbors,” he told a press conference.
Queensland Premier David Crisafulli said dozens of evacuation centers had been opened “as a last resort,” warning that the storm already “packed a punch” and that conditions could worsen as the weather system approaches.
What has been the storm’s impact so far?
The cyclone has brought heavy rains and high winds, flooding beaches and forcing airports in the densely populated region to close.
Public transport services in Brisbane have also been suspended, while over 1,000 schools in Queensland and New South Wales have been closed, education officials said Friday.
Flood warnings have been issued, as more than 400 millimeters (16 inches) of rain have already been dumped in parts of New South Wales over the past two days.
While no deaths have been registered, one man has been reported missing after his car was swept from a bridge into a river, police in New South Wales said.
Although officials have urged residents to shelter or evacuate, Australian television images showed surfers taking advantage of the choppy seas amid wind gusts of over 100 kilometers (62 miles) per hour.
“This isn’t a time for sightseeing or for seeing what it’s like to experience these conditions firsthand,” Albanese said. “Please stay safe. Be sensible.”
Cyclones are common in Australia’s northwest and far northeast, it is rare that they hit so far south.
Climatologists have repeatedly warned that extreme weather events such as wildfires, floods and cyclones will become more regular and more intense because of climate crisis.
