‘Scary’ tropical storm nears Queensland

The wind has been kicking up along the Gold Coast and so too has the swell. But while authorities have been warning residents to stay indoors as Cyclone Alfred approaches, die-hard surfers have been throwing caution to the increasing wind.

“This is what we look forward to,” said Jeff Weatherall as he waited for a jet ski to pick him up from Kirra beach and carry him into the big waves. “This is the fifth day straight – I’ve done nothing but eat, sleep, surf and do it again.”

Kirra beach is famous for its breakers and this week has been busy as surfers wait for Cyclone Alfred.

The cyclone is expected to make landfall as a category two system late Friday or – more likely – early Saturday morning.

Its path has slowed in recent days and has been moving “erratically” according to weather experts, which is why landfall has been delayed from earlier predictions.

“A category two system means winds near the centre up to 95km/h (59mph), with gusts up to 130km/h,” says the Bureau of Meteorology’s Matthew Collopy.

Four million people are in the firing line of Cyclone Alfred. It’s expected to hit between the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast – a stretch of Australia known for its beautiful beaches and top surf – as well as Brisbane, Australia’s third-biggest city.

The past few days in Kirra have been “crazy”, said resident and keen surfer Donnie Neal.

“It’s pretty serious, there are people that are going to lose their houses, but at the moment, you’re taking the good of it all – this is just crazy surf.”

As well as strong winds, Cyclone Alfred is expected to dump as much as 800mm of rain in the coming days, affecting a large area of southern Queensland and northern New South Wales. Flash and riverine flooding is the biggest concern in low-lying areas.

“These are tough times, but Australians are tough people, and we are resilient people,” said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday, echoing the Gold Coast’s acting Mayor Donna Gates, who has said Cyclone Alfred is a “scary proposition” for the region.

Nearly 1,000 schools have closed, public transport has been suspended and airports are shut. Flights aren’t expected to resume until Sunday at the earliest. Elective surgeries have also been cancelled.

While Queensland isn’t a stranger to cyclones – it’s the most disaster-prone state in Australia – it’s rare they come so far south.

The last time it happened was in 1974, when Cyclone Wanda hit in January and then two months later, Zoe crossed the coast.

Flooding though, is more common. In February 2022, thousands of homes were damaged along much of Australia’s east after heavy rain. Authorities have been keen to prepare communities ahead of Cyclone Alfred. The council opened sandbag depots across the region to help residents protect their homes.

“It’s surreal. We know it’s coming, but it’s very quiet,” said Anthony Singh, a resident of the Brisbane suburb of West End. He waited for four hours on Wednesday to pick up sandbags to protect his home.

Fellow resident Mark Clayton, helped to co-ordinate the sandbag collection, shovelling more than 140 tonnes of sand.

“I think people are a bit apprehensive,” he says. “Are the buildings going to stay up, are the roofs going to stay on? People expect a lot of trees to come down and to lose power for an extended period of time.”

With supermarkets now shut and people mostly sheltering at home, there’s a lot of uncertainty as Australians wait for the storm to hit.