{"id":102271,"date":"2025-03-07T16:05:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-07T05:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/?p=102271"},"modified":"2025-03-07T16:05:44","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T05:05:44","slug":"too-late-to-evacuate-nsw-qld-brace-for-alfreds-worst-impact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/too-late-to-evacuate-nsw-qld-brace-for-alfreds-worst-impact\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cToo Late to Evacuate\u201d: NSW & QLD Brace for Alfred\u2019s Worst Impact"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Residents of <strong>northern New South Wales<\/strong> and <strong>south-east Queensland<\/strong> are facing severe weather conditions as <strong>Cyclone Alfred<\/strong> moves closer to the coast. Emergency orders have been issued, urging people in flood-prone areas to evacuate or seek higher ground as conditions worsen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Residents Urged to Evacuate amid Rising Floodwaters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Authorities have warned that areas such as <strong>Upper Back Creek, Upper Goolmangar Creek, Upper Jiggi Creek, and Upper Terania Creek<\/strong> are becoming increasingly dangerous due to flooding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>NSW State Emergency Service (SES)<\/strong> has stated that it may now be <strong>too unsafe<\/strong> for rescue teams to reach affected residents, urging those in danger to move to the upper floors of buildings but <strong>not into roof cavities<\/strong>, where they risk becoming trapped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In <strong>Lismore <\/strong>and the <strong>Northern Rivers region<\/strong>, thousands of people were ordered to evacuate by <strong>9pm Thursday<\/strong>, with additional warnings issued Friday morning. Officials predict that floodwaters could <strong>cut off escape routes<\/strong>, making further evacuations impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The NSW SES is directing people in the following area(s) to EVACUATE NOW due to forecast cyclone-related flooding: <br>– Low lying parts of Wiangaree<br><br>EMERGENCY WARNING<br>Next update: Saturday 8 Mar 2:00 pm<br><br>Find out more: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/HYiOH0xS8b\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/t.co\/HYiOH0xS8b<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NSWSES?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#NSWSES<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/RichmondRiver?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#RichmondRiver<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/kwhrE1G70g\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/kwhrE1G70g<\/a><\/p>— NSW SES (@NSWSES) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NSWSES\/status\/1897857147586707517?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">March 7, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Power Outages Impact Tens of Thousands<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>More than <strong>40,000 residents <\/strong>in south-east Queensland and <strong>35,000 <\/strong>in northern NSW remain without power. Additional <strong>blackouts<\/strong> are expected as <strong>strong winds and heavy rainfall<\/strong> continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wind gusts of <strong>120km\/h<\/strong> have been reported along the coast from <strong>Moreton Island to Byron Bay<\/strong>, with severe weather conditions expected to extend as far south as <strong>Grafton<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Cyclone Alfred\u2019s Path and Expected Impact<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As of 1pm AEDT (12pm AEST) Friday, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/?s=Cyclone+Alfred+\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Cyclone Alfred remains a category 2 storm<\/a>, positioned <strong>165 kilometers<\/strong> east of<strong> Brisbane<\/strong> and <strong>140 kilometers <\/strong>east-northeast of the <strong>Gold Coast<\/strong>. Moving <strong>slowly at 7km\/h<\/strong>, the cyclone’s unpredictable trajectory has challenged meteorologists’ forecasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>Bureau of Meteorology (BoM)<\/strong> now predicts that Alfred will make landfall <strong>early Saturday<\/strong>, crossing over the <strong>Moreton Bay Islands<\/strong> before hitting the mainland, likely between <strong>Noosa and Beenleigh<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/cyclonealfred?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#cyclonealfred<\/a> is expected to hit between Noosa and Coolangatta late Friday or early Saturday, bringing destructive winds, storm surges, and flooding. Around 29,000 homes are under warnings, with 15,000 already ordered to evacuate. \ud83d\udc49Continue reading: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/BctrJDskms\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/t.co\/BctrJDskms<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/2xOV1F6nL3\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/2xOV1F6nL3<\/a><\/p>— NSW SES (@NSWSES) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NSWSES\/status\/1897848740305621395?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">March 7, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Major Flood Warnings Across the Region<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Heavy rainfall\u2014<strong>up to 450mm daily<\/strong>\u2014is expected in areas near and south of the cyclone\u2019s core. The BoM has issued <strong>major flood warnings<\/strong> for several rivers, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Logan and Albert Rivers (south of Brisbane)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tweed River (on the NSW border)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Wilsons, Brunswick, and Nambucca Rivers (further south)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>More than <strong>20 evacuation orders<\/strong> were issued Thursday afternoon, affecting residents in Lismore, Port Macquarie, Kyogle, Tumbulgum, Coraki, and other towns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>Hastings River region<\/strong> in Port Macquarie also faced evacuations, with orders covering North Shore, Settlement Point, and Hastings River Drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Transport Disruptions and School Closures<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>southern Gold Coast<\/strong> and areas <strong>inland of Tweed Heads<\/strong> have been severely impacted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More than <strong>1,000 schools<\/strong> were closed on Thursday, and <strong>public transport services<\/strong> across south-east Queensland were suspended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By 3:35pm Thursday, the <strong>last passenger flight into Brisbane<\/strong> had landed, with no confirmed timeline for flight resumptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Authorities Urge Caution and Preparedness<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>NSW Premier<strong> Chris Minns<\/strong> emphasized the risk of residents becoming trapped, stating that those who remain in flood zones may be <strong>without power, water, and essential services <\/strong>for an extended period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Queensland Premier <strong>David Crisafulli<\/strong> reassured the public, highlighting that preparedness efforts, including pre-positioning <strong>generators and emergency staff<\/strong>, had been extensive. “I know we spent a lot of time preparing… and I think Queenslanders have responded really, really well,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cyclone Alfred is closing in, bringing destructive winds, torrential rain, and mass evacuations across northern NSW and south-east Queensland. Thousands are already without power, and emergency services warn it may be too late for some to escape. The worst is yet to come as the storm\u2019s impact intensifies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":102283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-weather","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102271"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102284,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102271\/revisions\/102284"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}