Damage is shown in this video as ex-Cyclone Alfred hits the Gold Coast this weekend.
Video / Lulu Wood
Former tropical cyclone Alfred is bringing damaging rain and wind to a 400km stretch of coastline straddling the state border of Queensland and New South Wales.
The cyclone was downgraded this morning to a tropical low, but Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese warned the weather system would still bring dangerous conditions, including heavy rain and high winds, over the “coming days”.
Kiwis impacted by the cyclone have described near-sleepless nights as buildings rattle and trees come down due to the powerful weather system.
A Kiwi woman living near Brisbane as Cyclone Alfred lashed parts of coastal eastern Australia has described a scary and sleepless night as gum trees snapped, windows rattled and the “angry” wind sounded like a jumbo jet flying over her house.
Lauren Cantwell told the Herald today thatthe roof to their pool shed had come off, trees had fallen in their backyard – and she was hearing reports of looting at evacuated homes.
She and partner Matt were lucky to escape harm or serious damage to their home in Victoria Point, a seaside suburb 30km southeast of central Brisbane.
However, her sleep had taken a hit, the former Christchurch woman said.
“It’s been a long night. I think I’ve had about two hours' sleep … the wind started around 10pm and it was loud. You could hear the gum trees snapping in the distance.
“The wind sounded so angry, it sounded like a jumbo jet was going over the roof of our house. It was so frightening.
“The windows were rattling relentlessly, I’m surprised one of them didn’t smash.”
The cyclone was downgraded this morning to a tropical low as it approached land.
But while the risk of storm tide inundation had passed, officials warned the danger remained because of high winds and heavy rain.
“Its impact will be serious”, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
“[It] will intensify over coming hours and indeed over coming days, it will still bring strong winds, heavy rain, flooding and dangerous conditions across southeast Queensland and northeast New South Wales over this weekend and in the days beyond.”
The rain was still “hammering down”, so neither Cantwell nor her partner had been able to have a proper look outside, she said.
“We’re still due to get 800mm of rain over the next 24 to 48 hours.”
They could see they’d lost the roof of their pool shed, and the pump for their pool had split.
“A couple of trees are down in our backyard – no palm trees thank goodness … we are lucky to come out of this unscathed but I can’t say the same for the rest of our neighbours in the bay.
“We have a lot of friends who live out in the islands in the bay and Victoria Point is much like Christchurch, we all know each other so I know when this rain eases up there will be a lot of helping hands ready.”
The family of six left Brisbane on Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas on Friday last week and were due to disembark yesterday.
“But due to Cyclone Alfred we are stuck at sea and the earliest we’ll be able to disembark is hopefully Monday”, McCutcheon wrote in an email to the Herald.
“We are stuck on this ship and food is running out. It’s awful, we want to get off and get back home but have no choice but to ride this storm out.”
The situation had forced them to rebook flights from Brisbane to Auckland, costing the family another $4500, she wrote.
It wasn’t the first glitch for 5400-passenger-capacity Quantum of the Seas on its seven-night South Pacific cruise, with four passengers – two of them Kiwis – taken off the ship due to illness within 24 hours from Wednesday, according to the Maritime Bell website.
The medical emergencies weren’t related, the website reported.
Meanwhile, a Kiwi pensioner trapped on the Gold Coast as the former cyclone made its presence felt overnight described the experience as “noisy”, with her “rattling” hotel keeping her awake, and fears of power cuts ever-present.
But while many people at her hotel in Palm Beach, 15km south of Surfers Paradise, were scared ahead of the category 2 cyclone’s arrival, she wasn’t too worried – although she did sleep with the TV on all night for comfort, Jill Keats said.
“I can’t say it’s been terrifying. I lived through the Wahine storm [Cyclone Giselle] and the earthquakes … after living through the quakes this is a walk in the park”, the Christchurch woman said.
“People here know it’s coming, and have some idea of [its trajectory]. With the quakes, they just come out of nowhere. I’d rather have this than an earthquake any day.”
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.
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.
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?’”
Large waves were seen at Southport on the Gold Coast, Queensland on Tuesday ahead of ex-Cyclone Alfred.
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
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.
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