The flood arrives at the wall of the embankment protecting the city of Lismore on Australia’s east coast.
The gusts of wind and heavy rain have blackened more than 150,000 property and wet areas on Australia’s east coast, confirming that one driver has been killed, and dozens of troops have been injured in wild weather, officials said.
A few days later, after stripping the coast as a Category 2 tropical cyclone and shelling the 400-kilometer (250-mile) coastline, Alfred was weakened by tropical depression before landing on Saturday evening.
However, hundreds of thousands of people were not in power on Sunday as the remains of the cyclone moved inland. Video images showed knee-high water flowing across some of the worst areas of southeast Queensland and northeastern New South Wales.
A total of 23cm (9 inches) of rain fell in the Queensland resort in Hervey Bay in a few hours, flooding the home and forced emergency rescue in the rapid waters, state Prime Minister David Crisafulli said at a press conference.
Crisafulli said the weather system “continues to pack punches” as it moves inland, adding that more than 1,000 schools across the state will gradually begin reopening on Monday.
The utility company said about 268,000 homes and businesses in southeast Queensland and another 12,500 in northeast New South Wales were still out of power on Sunday afternoon.
“Customers need to prepare for a few days without power,” Queensland’s Essential Energy said.
“The biggest challenge to regaining electricity is the impact of floods and swollen stream beds, fallen vegetation and mud slides on the access road,” the statement said.
Cyclone Alfred has caused heavy rain and flooding in southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales.
Approximately 14,600 people have been receiving emergency warnings related to the New South Wales weather system, according to the state’s emergency services.
“In the last 24 hours, 17 incidents have occurred as a result of people who have rushed into the flood,” said Deputy Director of Emergency Services, Damien Johnson.
“It’s not only dangerous to yourself and your family, but also to volunteers who are emergency services workers who need to save you.”
The body of a 61-year-old man was found Saturday. The day after his four-wheel drive pickup was cleaned from a bridge in a river in northern New South Wales.
He escaped from the pickup and tried in vain to cling to the branches of the river before disappearing into the sea, police said.
Dangerous weather
In another incident on Saturday, police said 13 soldiers were injured and two army trucks were taken to hospital when they rolled during deployment, cleaning roads near the flood-prone New South Wales city of Lismore.
New South Wales Prime Minister Chris Mins told a press conference that 12 soldiers were still in hospital on Sunday, two of whom were in serious condition.
Wild weather with uprooted trees on the Gold Coast in eastern Australia.
“We wish all those young soldiers a quick recovery,” he said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese warned that the weather is still dangerous.
“The situation in Queensland and northern New South Wales remains very serious due to flash floods and strong winds,” Albanese said.
“The effects of heavy rain, gusts of wind damage and coastal waves are expected to continue for the next few days.”
Severe weather warnings were in effect in wide areas of southeast Queensland, according to the government’s Weather Service.
“Heavy rains and serious flooding continue to affect southeast Queensland and northeast New South Wales.
“The former tropical cyclones are gradually moving inland, but continue to draw a considerable amount of tropical moisture into the area.”
©2025 AFP
Quote: Flood, massive power outages as wild weather hits eastern Australia (March 9, 2025) From March 9, 2025 https://phys.org/news/2025-03-mass-power-wild-weather-bashes.html
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