Ex-Cyclone Alfred live updates: cyclone downgraded to tropical low; BoM path tracking map for Brisbane, Queensland and NSW; hundreds of thousands without power; weather forecast and flooding – latest news​on March 8, 2025 at 4:50 am

Luke Jenner, the chief operating officer at Essential Energy, has provided an update on the power outages across northern NSW.

Speaking to Channel 9, he said there was currently around 36,000 homes and businesses without power. 250 field crews have been out today working to restore power, he said, and power had been restored to around 17,000 properties.

But unfortunately, there have been some additional outages through the course of the day because … this is an evolving event.

The worst impacted areas include Tweed Heads, Armidale and Ballina, “and then stretching down the coast to Grafton”, he said.

Jenner couldn’t give a timeframe for a complete restoration of services, but said people should be prepared for “extended outages, especially in some of the hinterland areas where we still can’t get access due to flooding and road closure.”

There’s weather forecasts that say there’ll be upwards of 100mm of rain over the next three to five days. So all we can do at this stage is keep assessing the damage, working through it, bringing in additional resources, and we’ll absolutely make sure we keep the community up to date.

Littleproud warns potential flooding at Lockyer Valley could impact supply chains

The Nationals leader David Littleproud spoke to Sky News from Ryeford in Queensland earlier this afternoon, where the community is “watching and worried about how much rain [the ex-cyclone will] dump.”

He said the winds were “not to the extent that we were first worried about”, and the focus was now on potential flooding impacts in the region – particularly in the Lockyer Valley.

They’ve had three floods over the last three years, and … this would just decimate the Lockyer Valley again. But we’re hoping that if it is 50mm to 100mm, then we might get away with it … But this is a critical time, and obviously, if we see huge damage, then that will flow through the checkout eventually. If the supply goes down, then your price is going to go up.

People in the Lockyer Valley are prepared, they’re obviously used to this, but we are watching very closely and that’s one of the key areas. Obviously, we’re watching it go through Brisbane – that’s the next point of contact.

Qantas says it is working to restart domestic and international flights at Brisbane, Gold Coast and Maroochydore from 6am tomorrow.

In a statement, the airline said this was “subject to weather conditions and safety assessments.”

We are expecting to progressively rebuild our schedule throughout the day.

Our teams are working to help customers travel in and out of southeast Queensland and northern NSW as safely and as quickly as possible and continue to work closely with the state and federal government and the relevant local airport authorities.

270 Optus mobile sites loose connection due to power failures

Optus says 270 of its mobile sites have lost connected due to power failures in northern NSW and southeast Queensland.

In its latest update, Optus said the outages were impacting mobile and NBN fixed services “for a large number of customers.”

Generators, SatCats and additional personnel are being moved to the most significant sites where safe to do so, with extreme weather conditions continuing in the area.

The safety and wellbeing of our customers and employees are of the utmost importance as we work as quickly as possible to restore services. At this stage, we don’t know how long it will take to resolve services, however we are prioritising our resources to address impacted areas and support connectivity at key evacuation centres.

The statement said customers may be able to use Optus wifi calling, or apps like WhatsApp or FaceTime to make calls where wifi is enabled.

For those just joining us, here’s a recap of where the ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred situation is currently at:

• Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred has “essentially stalled for the moment” off the coast of Bribie Island, the Bureau of Meteorology says. The tropical low is expected to move northwards for the rest of the afternoon, before making landfall.

• All the emergency warnings in Queensland have been downgraded to “watch and act” level.

• Energex has indicated that full power restoration may take more than a week for southeast Queensland.

• 292,417 people in southeast Queensland remain without power, as of 2.15pm AEST. In northern NSW, just over 42,600 homes and businesses were without power as of 11am AEDT.

• NSW police are continuing to search for a man lost in flood waters last night near Dorrigo, after a ute was washed off a bridge into fast-running water. Efforts are being hampered by the intense weather.

• Flooding at Lismore in northern NSW is no longer expected to reach the height of the CBD levee – although major flooding is possible.

• Authorities across both NSW and Queensland have continued to stress that the worst is not over. NSW premier Chris Minns said it was “crucially important that the public not dismiss this weather event as something that has already passed.”

The latest flood warning out of Lismore says water levels are no longer expected to reach the heigh of the Lismore CBD levee.

The NSW premier, Chris Minns, said authorities were “ready in the possibility of an overflow.”

The warning from the Bureau of Meteorology reads:

River levels may reach major flood levels Saturday afternoon. River levels are no longer expected to reach the height of the Lismore CBD levee (10.6 metres) during the afternoon.

Advice level to be reduced to ‘advice’ on Gold Coast

Mark Ryan, the local disaster coordinator, has also been speaking to reporters.

He said the warning level would soon be reduced back to “advice” level – “allowing people to use judgement, to use caution [and] drive to conditions”.

Just look for those hazards, particularly fallen power lines, assume they are live … do not drive over them …

The beachside is so fragile right now and we do not want people near that baseline … you may be standing on something that has no foundation underneath … Move around the city with caution, drive to conditions and monitor what is going on around you.

Full extent of coastal erosion may not be known until end of tomorrow

On beach and coastal erosion, Donna Gates said it would “take a while” for that to be repaired.

She said she doesn’t know the full extent of the erosion, and might not know until “maybe by the end of tomorrow.”

Yesterday it was 4-6m of escarpment all the way from Southport. I have seen a lot of vision this morning that indicates we have some pretty extensive damage throughout beachside infrastructure so until the officers can assess that, I cannot give you a timeframe.

Gates said people should monitor conditions and stay off roads today, if possible

Taking questions, Donna Gates said the priority right now is for people to continue monitoring conditions.

Simply use your common sense, but still stay away from that damaged infrastructure and the beaches.

She urged people to drive to the conditions but said “you are better off the road today if at all possible.”

Donna Gates says there have been no local rescues in the past 24 hours – meaning people are sheltering at home and are safe, and “that is the best news we could possibly have”.

But she warns this is “not over yet” and there is the “potential for more rain”.

She says 150 signals are out at intersections currently, and Energex is working to address this.

They are prioritising the repairs and they are sending people out to man those intersections wherever possible.

Four people were also taken to hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning, Gold Coast mayor Donna Gates says:

It seems they were using a personal generator inside and so my message to everyone is, if you have a generator, it needs to be appropriately ventilated and preferably outside. The people are fine, by the way, so that was good news.

Two Gold Coast evacuation centres lost power overnight

Donna Gates says there were 122 evacuees last night, and two evacuation centres lost power.

Unfortunately, two of our centres lost power but work is being done in that space. We will be keeping the three open and looking at anything else that might become necessary.

She says there was “substantial damage” to residential properties and at Labrador, 25 people were evacuated safely.

Gold Coast acting mayor provides update

The Gold Coast acting mayor, Donna Gates, is providing an ex-tropical cyclone update.

She says there was 283mm of rain at Springbrook overnight, but the outlook was better today.

We are expecting possibly 100-200mm of rain, whereas yesterday the estimate was much higher of 300-400mm. It looks like Brisbane is going to get that now rather than the Gold Coast.

She says there was also major riverine flooding overnight, but “that risk has decreased as well”.

Sunshine Coast mayor says region is ‘not out of the woods yet’ after escaping full brunt of cyclone

The mayor of the Sunshine Coast, Rosanna Natoli, has described local conditions as “eerie”.

Speaking to Sky News just earlier, she said:

We’ve been waiting and for a few days there it looked like we might actually be where the cyclone crossed, and we might bear the absolute worst, and that hasn’t happened.

So it’s eerie now that in some parts of the Sunshine Coast we’ve had no rain. It is a little bit windy, but nothing more than a normal storm.

But the mayor said the “rain is coming” and could be locally intense in some areas, with up to 200mm that could lead to flash flooding. Damaging waves were also forecast for tonight, she said.

So we are not out of the woods yet. It’s almost as if we’re still waiting for our turn with Alfred.

About 300 people on the Sunshine Coast were without power, she said, but Energex is on standby if that changes this evening as stronger winds move through.

It is a strange place to be in between the storm that was [and] what we’ve seen happening down south, [but] it’s no time to be complacent.

The Gold Coast mayor, Tom Tate, has reportedly landed back in Australia after holidaying in Los Angeles amid the cyclone.

News.com.au reports that Tate was spotted at Melbourne airport this morning with his wife, Ruth.

The Bureau of Meteorology started warning about a cyclone possibly hitting south-east Queensland several days before the NRL grand final in Las Vegas, which Tate attended. He then holidayed in LA.

The acting mayor, Donna Gates – who has fronted the media in his place all week – has defended his absence:

The mayor has made several attempts to get home but unfortunately all those flights have been cancelled. He is as up-to-date as I am on all cyclone developments.

I have personally spoken to him several times and sent him every situation report as they come through multiple times daily.

Guardian Australia has contacted Tate for comment.

The search for a man swept into NSW flood waters yesterday afternoon is ongoing, NSW police say.

The man was lost in flood waters last night near Dorrigo in the north of the state, when a ute was washed off a bridge into fast-running water.

He had climbed out of the ute into a tree about 30 metres from the riverbank, but emergency services were unable to reach him before he was swept away, and he had not been seen since.

Det Chief Insp Guy Flaherty said local police and emergency services had been attempting to access the area, with weather conditions preventing the use of aerial assets and specialist rescue crews:

We are dealing with an evolving, dynamic weather event which presents unique search and rescue challenges. Aside from the severe local weather and flood conditions, we have a responsibility to keep emergency personnel and volunteers safe from unnecessary risk …

We are using local knowledge to collate information as to how the river system progresses and identify key access points. But, again, we will only be looking at where we can safely put our SES and police into those areas.