By: Monu Kumar
Thousands of people in Australia's eastern regions were ordered to evacuate before Tropical Cyclone Alfred hits land on Saturday. Alfred’s slow progress toward the coast fed concern it could bring a prolonged period of heavy rain and is expected to hit land as a Category 2 storm north of Brisbane. It may be noted that Brisbane is Australia’s third-most populous city.
Wind gusts of more than 100 kph (62 mph) lashed the coastal regions of Queensland and New South Wales states overnight. The storm moved slowly west 120 km (75 miles)from Brisbane and 85 kilometres (53 miles) from the tourist city Gold Coast. It brought turmoil that snapped power links to more than 80,000 homes across the two states, electricity firms said, around half of them in Gold Coast.
Officials have described Alfred as a “very rare event” for Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, which was last hit by a cyclone in 1974, more than half a century ago. With a population size of 2.7 million, Brisbane had near misses from cyclones in 1990 and 2019.
Queensland Premier David Crisafulli told the people through a news conference on Friday - have an evacuation plan if you are in one of those areas, advising them to secure their homes before evacuating.