New emergency orders have been issued in northern NSW as Cyclone Alfred inches its way towards the coast.

People in Upper Back Creek, Upper Goolmangar Creek, Upper Jiggi Creek, Upper Terania Creek have been urged to move to higher ground as rising floodwater has made it too dangerous to evacuate the area.

Residents have been warned it may now be too unsafe for the NSW SES to reach them and they should move as high as possible, including the upper floors of multi-storey buildings, but not roof cavities where they may become trapped.

Thousands of people in Lismore and other flood-prone parts of the NSW’s Northern Rivers region were urged to evacuate by 9pm and further orders have been issued this morning due to forecasts that flooding would cut off escape routes.

More than 40,000 people remain without power across south-east Queensland as well as 35,000 in northern NSW, and more outages are anticipated as conditions worsen.

Damaging 120km/h wind gusts developed between Moreton Island and Byron Bay on Thursday night and are expected to extend along the coast from Double Island Point as far south as Grafton today.

Intense rainfall which may lead to life-threatening flash flooding is also forecast to develop this afternoon and will continue even as Alfred weakens below tropical cyclone strength on Saturday.

At 1pm (AEDT/12pm AEST) on Friday, Alfred was a category 2 storm, 165 kilometres east of Brisbane and 140 kilometres east north-east of the Gold Coast, crawling towards land at 7km/h.

Its slow pace, coupled with those unexpected loops in its path on Thursday and Wednesday nights, blew out forecasters’ predictions about landfall for the southernmost cyclone to hit Australia in 50 years.

The Bureau of Meteorology said it was expected to cross over the Moreton Bay Islands early on Saturday morning before crossing the mainland coast, most likely between Noosa and Beenleigh later during Saturday.

As Alfred makes landfall, it will continue to weaken. Daily rainfall of 350 to 450 millimetres is predicted near and south of the core.

Major flood warnings were issued for the Logan and Albert rivers, south of Brisbane, the Tweed River on the border with NSW and the Wilsons, Brunswick and Nambucca rivers further south.

More than 20 evacuation orders were made throughout Thursday afternoon and evening in northern NSW, affecting Lismore and parts of Port Macquarie, Kyogle, Tumbelgum, Coraki and other towns.

Thousands of residents were in the flood zone in Lismore alone, with the south, north, CBD and part of the east at risk of going under or being cut off.

In Port Macquarie, residents near the Hastings River along North Shore, Settlement Point and Hastings River and Hibbard drives were given until 1am to leave.

Parts of Billinudgel, Fingal Head, Uki, Bowraville and Macksville were also under the emergency warning. The whole Northern Rivers was under a blanket warning to stay inside.

NSW Premier Chris Minns yesterday said there may not be enough boats for every house in the flood evacuation zone if they remain.

“Those communities, if they remain in the area, they become trapped, they may be without power, water and other essential services for an extended period of time,” he said.

“We’re forecasting very heavy rain and, in the event of that, evacuation routes may be closed.”

By 9.30pm on Thursday, more than 32,000 people were out power, with more expected to follow, from the southern Moreton Bay islands south past Port Macquarie in NSW.

The southern Gold Coast, particularly Coolangatta, were the worst hit in Queensland, with Cabarita Beach, Broken head and several suburbs inland of Tweed Heads among the worst affected south of the border.

More than 1000 schools were closed on Thursday and into Friday public transport was cancelled across south-east Queensland.

The last passenger flight into Brisbane arrived at 3.35pm, with no timetable for flights to resume.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli said the impact would be felt by everyone in the south-east in some way.

“Everyone will have some level of impact but I really believe that people have overwhelmingly done the little things right,” he said.

“I know we spent a lot of time preparing. We’ve prepositioned everything from generators to staff and I think Queenslanders have responded really, really well.

“I’ve got every faith we’ll get through this if we just stay connected, keep doing the right things and we’ll come through the other end.”

Source Credit: 9 News