Desk report, Mar 08: One person has died, and several others have been injured as a tropical low moves west across the Australian east coast, reports AP.
Heavy rainfall is expected to continue battering parts of the Australian east coast for several more days, despite the region escaping the destructive winds of its first tropical cyclone in 51 years, officials said on Saturday. Authorities confirmed one fatality and multiple injuries.
Tropical Cyclone Alfred was initially predicted to be the first cyclone to make landfall near Brisbane, the capital of Queensland and Australia’s third-largest city, since 1974.
However, on Saturday, it weakened into a tropical low—characterised by sustained winds of less than 63 kph (39 mph)—and stalled off the Brisbane coast for several hours.
According to Matt Collopy, a Bureau of Meteorology manager, the cyclone’s remnants are expected to move west across the Australian mainland over the coming days, bringing intense rainfall.
“The primary concern now is the locally heavy-to-intense rainfall, which may result in flash and riverine flooding,” Collopy told reporters.
Cyclones frequently occur in Queensland’s tropical north but are uncommon in the state’s more temperate and densely populated southeast, which borders New South Wales.
Police reported that a 61-year-old man, who went missing in a flooded river near Dorrigo in New South Wales, was confirmed as the first fatality when his body was recovered on Saturday.
Additionally, several defence personnel sustained injuries when two military trucks involved in the emergency response collided in Tregeagle, New South Wales, on Saturday, according to police.
Media outlets, including Nine Network television, reported that 36 people were injured in the accident, eight of them seriously, while two individuals remained trapped inside the trucks.
A woman suffered minor injuries after the roof of an apartment building in the Queensland border city of Gold Coast was torn off on Friday, police said. She was among 21 residents evacuated from the building.
Officials reported that a couple sustained minor injuries when a tree crashed through the ceiling of their Gold Coast bedroom during strong winds and rain on Thursday night.
Queensland Premier David Crisafulli stated that 330,000 homes and businesses had lost power since Thursday due to the storm. No previous natural disaster had caused a larger blackout in the state’s history. In New South Wales, up to 45,000 properties were left without electricity on Saturday, although officials said tens of thousands had been reconnected by late afternoon.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology, days of heavy rainfall have resulted in flooding across Queensland and New South Wales. The missing man was the only casualty among 36 flood rescues conducted by emergency teams in northern New South Wales in recent days, most of which involved vehicles attempting to drive through floodwaters, police said.