Australia readies as cyclone veers towards eastern coast

A Beach Closed sign beside Main Beach caused by Cyclone Alfred on March 04, 2025 in Byron Bay, Australia. (Photo by James D. Morgan/Getty Images) (James D. Morgan/Photographer: James D. Morgan/Ge)

A rare tropical cyclone veered towards Australia’s densely populated eastern coast on Wednesday, forcing scores of schools to close as worried residents stripped supermarket shelves bare.

Tropical Cyclone Alfred would strike Friday morning just south of bustling Brisbane city, forecasters said, the first typhoon to hit the region in more than 50 years.

Flooding rains, destructive winds and violent waves were expected to batter a densely populated 300 kilometre (186 mile) stretch of coastline straddling the border of Queensland state and New South Wales.

As thrill-seeking surfers paddled out to catch five metre (16 foot) swells stirred up by the storm, other people were filling sandbags or getting ready to flee to higher ground.

“We’re just making sure that everything is tied down,' said Kim Hollow from the Horizons Motel an hour’s drive south of Brisbane.

“The supermarket shelves have been pretty much stripped bare. You can’t buy a candle to save yourself,” he told AFP.

“I must admit my daughter has been on my back a bit. We’ll only leave if we’re told to evacuate. If it’s safe to stay, we’ll stay.”

More than 100 schools were closed Wednesday across the flood-prone northern rivers region of New South Wales, education department officials said.

Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said Tropical Cyclone Alfred was likely to hit land in the early hours of Friday morning.

It would bring “destructive wind gusts” of up to 155 kilometres (96 miles) per hour in some places, bureau forecasters said.

Dangerous ‘storm tide’

There was a chance it would make landfall at high tide, said forecasters, creating a “dangerous storm tide” with powerful waves.

“We are planning for significant rainfall that will see significant inundation, isolation and potential need for evacuation,” said emergency services commissioner Mike Wassing.

“I want people to act now, relocate now before those circumstances are occurring.”

While cyclones are common in the warm tropical waters lapping Australia’s northern flank, it is rarer for them to form in cooler waters further south.

Tropical Cyclone Alfred would be the first to make landfall in that part of Australia since 1974, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

“This is perhaps an indication that due to global warming, the reach of tropical cyclones is extending further than the tropics, requiring preparedness in areas where cyclones are unprecedented,” said Iftekhar Ahmed from the University of Newcastle.

Two season-opening Australian rules football matches -- the country’s most popular spectator sport -- slated for Thursday have been postponed because of the storm.

The Gold Coast Festival of Golf and Australia’s largest triathlon have also been called off.

Researchers have repeatedly warned that climate change amplifies the risk of natural disasters such as bushfires, floods and cyclones.