A slightly weakened Cyclone Alfred has hit the Moreton Bay islands, lashing them with with intense rain and wind gusts up to 120km/h as it bears down on the mainland Queensland coast.

A driver is missing in floodwaters in NSW and more than 260,000 people are in the dark as the category 1 storm blows trees into homes and powerlines and dumps potentially life-threatening flooding rain.

Late on Friday night the storm weakened slightly to category 1 as it made its final approach following days of nervous preparations and waiting for more than 4 million residents in south-east Queensland and northern NSW.

Brisbane residents were told to take shelter in the strongest part of the house while “fast-moving and unpredictable” flooding in parts of the Gold Coast left residents cut off and unable to leave.

Major flood warnings were current on Saturday morning for the Logan River, south of Brisbane, and several waterways in NSW, including the Tweed, Wilsons, Nambucca and Richmond rivers.

Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Dean Narramore said forecasters were expecting the storm to cross the coast about 5am or 6am (6am or 7am AEDT) near Bribie Island, north of Brisbane.

It was expected to cause damaging wind gusts up to 120km/h before weakening immediately on making landfall and going on to dump 350 to 450 millimetres of rain in a day in the worst-hit areas south of the eye.

Destructive 155km/h wind gusts were no longer expected, the Bureau of Meteorology said just after 11pm on Friday (12am Saturday AEDT).

Four hours later, the storm was 50 kilometres north-east of Brisbane, heading north-west at 10km/h.

Narramore told the ABC there were wind gusts up to 80km/h right across the Brisbane metropolitan area, with 200 millimetres of rain in part of north-east NSW and widespread falls of 50 to 150 millimetres.

“That’s what we’re getting really concerned about as well, is the rainfall, because once Tropical Cyclone Alfred crosses, the wind threat will start dropping out pretty quickly,” he said, just after midnight (1am AEDT).

“But the rain is going to continue for at least the next 36 hours, right across south-east Queensland and north-east NSW.”

Millions from the Moreton Bay region through Brisbane and the Gold Coast and down into northern NSW were under emergency warnings to take shelter on Friday night.

“Go to the strongest, safest part of the building you are in. This will be away from big windows,” authorities advised Brisbane residents.

“It could be a bathroom, walk-in wardrobe, or hallway. Stay there.”

A watch and act warning for Sunshine Coast residents to stay inside was issued early on Saturday, adding to a similar warning issued on Friday afternoon in Ipswich.

In Currumbin Valley, residents were told it was too late to leave to avoid “dangerous, widespread, fast-moving and unpredictable flooding occurring near Currumbin Creek”.

Authorities said evacuation routes were closed and homes and buildings would be flooded. Police shared a similar warning with those in the nearby Tallebudgera Creek catchment and the NSW SES said it was also too late for residents in parts of Kyogle and its surrounds to leave.

The rare cyclone’s fury was already apparent long before making landfall as it ripped up trees across the Gold Coast, knocking out power to more than 220,000 homes and businesses in south-east Queensland and almost 40,000 more in northern NSW before midnight.

The rare cyclone’s fury was already apparent long before making landfall as it ripped up trees across the Gold Coast, knocking out power to almost 200,000 homes and businesses in south-east Queensland and almost 40,000 more in northern NSW before midnight.

At 8pm on Friday (9pm AEDT) Energex said it had managed to restore power to thousands of properties throughout the day but would only be responding to emergency situations where it was safe.

“While our crews have been fixing faults today where it’s been safe to do so, cyclonic conditions aren’t safe work environments,” the power company said.

“Our teams are awesome but they’re not bulletproof: we’re not putting them at risk.

Source Credit: 9 News