The system reached Moreton Bay islands in the early hours of Saturday and was downgraded to a category 1, and then a tropical low. Here’s what you need to know
Flood and severe weather warnings remain current for Queensland and New South Wales, despite ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred being downgraded to a tropical low.
Here’s what we know so far.
The tropical cyclone reached the Moreton Bay islands in the early hours of Saturday, picking up speed but losing some intensity. It was downgraded from a category 2 tropical cyclone to a category 1 about 1am.
Widespread falls had already been recorded, ranging from 100mm to 200mm. Gold Coast seaway had recorded 132.8mm since 9am, and 153.6mm at Grafton airport.
The strongest winds were 107km/h recorded at the Gold Coast, and widespread gusts of 50km/h to 70km/h around the Brisbane metropolitan area.
Alfred was expected to bring widespread heavy rain and gusty winds as it crossed the coast, between Maroochydore and Bribie Island on Saturday morning, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Senior meteorologist Miriam Bradbury said Alfred had weakened to a tropical low in the last hour.
But while the winds had backed off, significant and severe weather warnings and flood warnings remained in place due to the rain, she said, as heavy rainfall with the potential for flash flooding was still expected across southeast Queensland and northeast New South Wales.
“For Brisbane and the Gold Coast today is likely to be the wettest day,” Bradbury said.
Severe weather warnings were current from Gympie down to Coffs Harbour, and as far west as Toowoomba and Stanthorpe in Queensland, senior meteorologist Dean Narramore said.
“This widespread rainfall will continue to further exacerbate the flood threat through much of south-east Queensland and north-east New South Wales, which is of a concern with already many major flood warnings current in these areas.”
A number of flood warnings have been issued.
In New South Wales, these included major flood warnings for the Tweed, Wilsons, Bellinger, Richmond, Nambucca, Brunswick, Orara rivers and Marshalls Creek.
In Queensland, there were major flood warnings for the Bremer and Logan rivers and Warrill Creek.
Conditions weren’t expected to ease until late on Sunday or early next week.
The State Emergency Service in NSW said it had already received 8,000 calls for assistance and responded to more than 5,000 incidents across the Northern Rivers, including 29 flood rescues.
By 5am Saturday, the SES said 16,200 people had been ordered to evacuate and 31,400 homes were subject to flood warnings.
SES Coordinator, Debbie Platz, told the ABC the Wilsons River at Lismore was at 8.68m at 7.30am, raising concerns that the south Lismore levee could break.
In Queensland, more than 250,000 households on the Gold Coast, Redlands and Brisbane were without power, together with 39,000 in New South Wales.
The main difference between a tropical cyclone and a low pressure system was wind speed, according to the BoM.
Tropical cyclones were low pressure systems with characteristics that included a “warm core” and wind speeds of at least 63km/h extending more than halfway around the cyclone’s centre. They only formed when ocean water temperatures were at least 26.5C.
Tropical lows usually had lower wind speeds, but could still bring severe thunderstorms and heavy rains.