The cyclone was downgraded this morning to a tropical low as it approached land - as of 10am (NZT) it was 65km northeast of Brisbane and 49km southeast of Maroochydore.
Officials warned the risk to life from high winds and heavy rain remained, although Queensland Premier David Crisafulli said the chance of storm tide inundation had passed.
Christchurch woman Jill Keats is trapped in Palm Beach during the Cyclone Alfred weather event that is affecting a large area of eastern coastal Australia.
Christchurch woman Jill Keats is trapped in Palm Beach during the Cyclone Alfred weather event that is affecting a large area of eastern coastal Australia.
Keats – who was inadvertently also among those first on the scene after the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings, helping save wounded worshippers – was this morning safe on the second floor of the three-storey Palm Beach Hotel.
Residents had earlier been moved from the top floor because the roof was starting to sag from the wind and rain, she said.
“The receptionist has been wonderful. She’s stayed here with us. We’ve got a vending machine and can make tea and coffee, but I’m dying for some toast with tomatoes.
“The supermarkets closed yesterday, but there was nothing left anyway. Not a stick of bread or a piece of fruit.”
The 72-year-old, stranded after her Jetstar flight home booked for Thursday was cancelled, had instead bought soup and frozen meals and had one meal left, she said.
“But it doesn’t look very appetising.”
Empty supermarket shelves on the Gold Coast on Thursday, ahead of Cyclone Alfred's expected arrival.
Empty supermarket shelves on the Gold Coast on Thursday, ahead of Cyclone Alfred's expected arrival.
Her planned three-day visit was to support a family member facing a health challenge, but with no travel insurance, she’d needed family help to pay for extra accommodation and food costs until her rebooked flight on Monday. 10/3
This morning it was still “windy and rainy”, and she feared they could lose power as others within a block had.
“Every so often we get a wind gust that rattles the building, and you think, ‘Is this when we lose our power?’”
Keats has been a regular visitor to the Gold Coast for more than 25 years and had “never seen [weather] like this before”.
She had a view of the beach from her room and had watched sightseers risking their lives.
“Some of them are families taking their kids. Bloody idiots.”
A damaged yacht swept away by the waves rests at Point Danger on the southern end of the Gold Coast on Friday. Violent winds toppled power lines on March 7 as Tropical Cyclone Alfred inched towards Australia's eastern coast, sparking evacuation orders and leaving more than 50,000 homes without electricity. Photo / AFP
A damaged yacht swept away by the waves rests at Point Danger on the southern end of the Gold Coast on Friday. Violent winds toppled power lines on March 7 as Tropical Cyclone Alfred inched towards Australia's eastern coast, sparking evacuation orders and leaving more than 50,000 homes without electricity. Photo / AFP
On the Gold Coast, several people have been rescued from the beaches despite them being closed by officials, AFP reported.
“[It’s] just stupidity, people are trying to get on the beach – trying a cheap thrill ... they’re putting themselves in danger,” Mermaid Beach Surf Life Saving Club president Paul Mann told the ABC.
No deaths have been reported but one man was missing after his four-wheel-drive vehicle was swept from a bridge into fast-running river water south of the cyclone, police said.
Four million people are in the cyclone’s firing line along a 400km stretch of coastline straddling the state border of Queensland and New South Wales.
Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.