On Monday, Louis Alves and his wife, Annabella Alves, were sweeping water out from the flooded garage of their house in Brisbane, Australia.
The couple had been bracing for Cyclone Alfred, which was downgraded to a tropical low by the time it made landfall on the mainland Saturday evening. But the storm still dumped more than a foot of rain in some areas of Queensland and New South Wales, and knocked out power for more than 300,000 people, according to ABC News.
“I wake up around 5 o’clock in the morning, and the water is still here. I was a bit worried about the wind,” Louis Alves said.
A line of debris on the back fence of Louis Alves and Annabella Alves’ yard marks how high the water rose — about 5 feet — during the storm that was downgraded from a cyclone to a tropical low by the time it made landfall in Brisbane, Australia, on Saturday. Leila Goldstein/The World
Especially since their house is so old, Annabella Alves chimed in.
A mango tree in their yard was knocked over, and a neighbor’s car parked on the street was almost completely submerged. A line of debris on their back fence marked how high the water rose — about 5 feet high.
Ex-cyclone Alfred was the first storm of its kind in the area in 51 years. The city is further south of where tropical cyclones typically hit, and scientists say climate change is playing a role in increasing extreme weather events around the world.
A car parked on the street near the home of Louis Alves and Annabella Alves was crushed by trees during the storm over the weekend in Brisbane, Australia.Leila Goldstein/The World
Brisbane sits on the eastern coast of Australia where long stretches of sandy beaches bring in tourists.
When it became clear that Brisbane could experience a direct hit from Cyclone Alfred, the government kicked into gear, warning people to stay inside. Grocery store shelves emptied out, and people hunkered down.
A 61-year-old man died after getting caught in floodwaters, and 13 soldiers were injured in a collision while on their way to help with flooding, according to government officials.
Tropical cyclones happen when a rotating storm system forms over warm ocean water, producing extreme wind and heavy rain. Over the Atlantic Ocean, they’re called hurricanes.
Annie Lau, a coastal geomorphologist at the University of Queensland, said that the ocean temperatures in the area are typically not warm enough to cause this sort of storm.
“In Brisbane, we’re really not used to tropical cyclones,” she said.
Annie Lau is a coastal geomorphologist at the University of Queensland in Queensland, Australia. Leila Goldstein/The World
Tropical cyclones usually occur in the tropics, in regions surrounding the equator. Brisbane, further south and less intensely hot, is considered subtropical. But the area has seen unusually high sea surface temperatures in the last six months, according to Lau.
“The February that just passed was the warmest February on record since 1900,” Lau said.
Steve Turton, an adjunct professor of environmental geography at Central Queensland University, said it’s too soon to tell if this storm occurred as a result of climate change. That information will come after further analysis.
But he said that extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and intense in Australia and across the globe.
“We are seeing records being broken for a whole bunch of climate parameters,” Turton said. “Temperatures, rainfall, but also periods of drought, so we’re seeing all these kinds of records being broken and moving us out of that climatic envelope that we’re used to living in.”
And these extreme events often disproportionately affect vulnerable populations, including people who are homeless.
On Monday morning, the floor of Emmanuel City Mission, a homeless center in Brisbane, was covered in inflatable mattresses and blankets as kitchen staff gave out breakfast sandwiches. The center is normally only open during the daytime, providing meals and a place to shower, but the staff decided to stay open around the clock through the storm.
On Monday morning, the floor of Emmanuel City Mission, a homeless center in Brisbane, Australia, kitchen staff gave out breakfast sandwiches. The chef’s crew is pictured here. Leila Goldstein/The World
Paul King was at the shelter to get breakfast and a coffee. He said that while he isn’t homeless, he relies on the center for meals. But the heavy rains kept him at home over the weekend, and he didn’t have much food on hand.
“Yeah, the last 24 hours I didn’t try to come in because it was just too torrential, and I thought I might get blocked off from floods.”
Paul King isn’t homeless, but he relies on Emmanuel City Mission, in Brisbane, Australia, for meals. Heavy rains kept him at home over the weekend, and he didn’t have much food on hand. But he was able to come to the center on Monday. Leila Goldstein/The World
Over in the kitchen, Jill Dunning prepped for a lunch of spaghetti bolognese with vegetables.
“We really thought we were only going to plan from Wednesday morning to Saturday morning, but as the cyclone hung out on the bay, we had to plan for another day and another day.”
In the aftermath of ex-Cyclone Alfred, Jill Dunning prepped for a lunch of spaghetti bolognese with vegetables at the Emmanuel City Mission, a homeless center in Brisbane, Australia.Leila Goldstein/The World
Even though it was a big lift, she said that she’s grateful the power didn’t go out at the center. And while Alfred could have brought more damage to communities in Queensland and New South Wales, climate scientists warn that storms and other extreme weather will become more common in Australia over time.