Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred has crossed the mainland coast of Queensland ending a days-long anxious wait for residents.
The “extremely slow moving” system made its way over Bribie Island about 8pm AEST before moving west onto the mainland about 9pm AEST.
Landfall came hours after the weather system first impacted Moreton Island as a category 1 storm, about 12am AEST.
It then weakened enough to lose its cyclone status about 6am and continues to weaken as it moves inland, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) said in its latest update.
The system is currently about 55 kilometres north of Brisbane and 45 kilometres south of Maroochydore, with gusts of up to 110km/h.
“Damaging wind gusts are currently occurring about Moreton Bay and extending into some northern Brisbane suburbs due to a southeasterly wind surge interacting with Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred,” the bureau warned.
“These winds are expected to ease overnight as Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred moves further inland.”
The winds already caused plenty of damage across Saturday.
The cyclonic weather conditions downed trees and powerlines across the affected regions, leaving more than 295,000 properties in Queensland and more than 31,000 properties in northern New South Wales without power.
Crews are also working to restore power to those homes and businesses in what Queensland Premier David Crisafulli said was the “largest ever loss of power from a natural disaster in Queensland’s history”.
“It’s bigger than Yasi, bigger than Debbie, bigger than Oswald, so it shows you the scale of the destruction because of that populated area,” he said at a press conference this afternoon.
Source Credit: 9 News