Hundreds of thousands of people in the Australian state of Queensland were out of power on Sunday (9) after the Tropical Alfred cyclone, which brought harmful winds and heavy rainfall, lighting flood alerts. There is confirmation of a dead person.
At least 316,540 people were out of power in the southeastern Queensland, where the city of Gold Coast was the most affected area with more than 112,000 without power due to the phenomenon, the Energex energy distributor in a statement said.
The storm reached the coast of Queensland on Saturday (8) as a “low tropical” after 16 days as a cyclone. The state capital, Brisbane, was spared the impact of the storm, which was also felt in the southern neighbor, New Wales of the South.
The prime minister said on Sunday (9) that the “situation in Queensland and northern South Wales remains very serious due to sudden floods and strong winds.”
“Strong rainfall, harmful gusts and coastal waves impacts should continue in the coming days,” Albanese said in Canberra, in comments televised by Australian Broadcasting Corp.
The country’s meteorology department said they could trigger sudden floods were developing on Sunday (9) and may affect Brisbane, as well as the Queensland regional centers of Ipswich, Sunshine Coast and Gympie, he said.
Brisbane airport reopened this Sunday (9), but posted on X that “the current time may affect the programming.”
Queensland will decide on Sunday if about 1,000 state schools, closed due to bad weather, will reopen on Monday (10), said Prime Minister David Crisafulli.
“Where safe, schools will reopen except Gold Coast, where there are still some significant damage, loss of energy and transportation problems,” Crisafulli said in brisbane televised comments.
“One thing has remained consistent, it is the spirit of community and the determination,” he said.
On Saturday (8), a man died in a flood in the north of New South Wales, while two Australian defense force vehicles on the route to help residents of the city of Lismore were involved in a collision that injured several officers, authorities said.
