Hundreds of thousands of people in the Australia state of Queensland were without power on Sunday, after Alfred, a lower tropical cyclone, brought harmful winds and heavy rains and triggered flood warnings.
Around 316,540 people were without power in Queensland’s southeast, where the city of Gold Coast was the worst area with more than 112,000 without electricity due to the storm system, Energy Distributor Energy said in a statement.
The storm reached the coast of Queensland on Saturday after 16 days as a cyclone as a “tropical depth”, which led to preparations for millions of residents. The state capital Brisbane was spared the main load of the storm, which was also felt in the southern neighbor New South Wales.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Sunday that the “Situation in Queensland and Northern New South Wales remains very serious due to flash flooding and heavy wind”.
“Strong rainfall, harmful wind gusts and the effects of the coastal urges are expected to continue over the coming days,” said Albanese in Canberra in comments that the Australian Broadcasting Corp. were broadcast.
The nation’s Bureau of Meteorology said that strong rainfall could develop on Sunday and that the regional centers of Queensland from Ipswich, Sunshine Coast and Gympie could have an impact.
In the state, harmful winds with gusts of around 90 km/h were also possible, the office said on its website.
“It is now only a weak low point, as it moves through the southeast queensland in the country and brings a lot of rain,” said Dean Narramore, meteorologist of the Bureau.
Brisbane Airport was opened again on Sunday, but again put it on X that “persistent weather can affect the schedule”.
Queensland will decide on Sunday whether around 1,000 state schools that are closed due to the bad weather will be reopened on Monday, said the state premier David Crisafulli.
“With the exception of the gold coast, the schools will be reopened, where it remains considerable damage. Power loss and problems with transport,” said Crisafulli in television comments from Brisbane.
“One thing remained consistent, and that is the community spirit and the determination,” he said.
On Saturday, a man died in the north of New South Wales, while two vehicles of the Australian defense forces were involved in a street collision on the way to the residents of the city of Lismore who injured several officials.
