2 days ago
PM says 120 ADF personnel heading ‘immediately’ to help in NSW
Anthony Albanese said that overnight he approved a request for 120 Australian defence force personnel to depart “immediately” for NSW.
They’ll start work today supporting the local SES [with] door knocking as well as conducting welfare checks on vulnerable members of the community.
They’ll support the SES with sandbagging, damage assessments and essential services.
The chief medical officer has also activated the Department of Health and Aged Care’s national incident centre for TC Alfred, the PM said.
The national incident centre is activated when there’s a significant event or an emerging threat. It’s a coordination mechanism to ensure that communication is maintained between the Commonwealth department of health, state health authorities, and response agencies, including of course here at Nema.
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Ergon spokesperson outlines power outage status
An Ergon spokesperson says of the 40,000 current power outages, 35k are on the Gold Coast and 5k in Redlands and the islands.
He said staff had to demobilise at 10pm last night due to the wind strength.
It was unsafe. We’ll remobilise, hopefully later today depending on the wind strength across all the impacted areas and will continue to do so.
He said there were 1,200 staff ready to assess the full damage, “likely tomorrow” and into early Sunday.
We’ve got hundreds of lines down across the network. Assume they’re all live. Don’t go anywhere near them.
SES has moved from preparation to response phase
Queensland SES chief officer Mark Armstrong said it has moved from the preparation phase to the response phase.
In the last 24 hours, there has been 1,300 requests for assistance.
Yesterday, they were largely in terms of preparation assistance with sandbagging [but now] it is now emergency assistance, particularly for fallen trees, where access has been restricted by vegetation and where there’s been structural issues in homes – particularly leaky roofs and broken windows and so on.
He said the SES had facilitated the distribution of more than one million sandbags to LGA’s across the region.
Two people rescued from Currumbin Valley home after tree fell on house
Queensland Fire Department commissioner Stephen Smith was up next. He said the department had responded to 60 cyclone-related incidents with “no water rescues or evacuations currently required.”
However, there was a rescue this morning in the Currimbin Valley where two people were trapped in a bedroom after a tree fell on their home.
Firefighters used saws to rescue those two people and they were handed over to QAS and we’re pleased to indicate they only had relatively minor injuries.
He said more than 180 specialist swift-water rescue firefighters remain in place in more than 50 locations, with an additional 300 personnel engaged.
Near-misses with minor injuries, Chelepy says
Shane Chelepy said a number of trees had damaged homes and cars on the Gold Coast, and there has been “a number of near-misses” with a few minor injuries.
We are now preparing for the flash flooding and heavy riverine flooding … If you know you have to leave, prepare for that, understand when you have to leave and where you’re going to go.
Eleven search and rescues conducted so far
Deputy police commissioner Shane Chelepy said there are no reported deaths or missing people amid Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
We’re starting to see a number of requests for assistance increase now, particularly across the Gold Coast and Redlands area as a result of the intense wind and rainfall.
He said there had been no reports of property inundation so far.
There has been 11 search and rescue jobs since yesterday, he said – which included swimmers, kayakers and jetskiers “all caught up in the rough conditions”.
Now is not the time to be in the surf. And all you’re doing is putting emergency services at risk and yourself at risk by undertaking that behaviour.
Sixty ADF personnel heading to Queensland
Jenny McAllister also spoke about the ADF’s role in the response.
She said 60 personnel would be made available for the Queensland government “to undertake welfare checks”, along with high-clearance vehicles.
The Queensland government has also requested aerial support for search-and-rescue activities which are also being provided.
This is in addition to the 120 personnel allocated for NSW. The minister said:
They are moving to NSW immediately to provide support to the local SES in all of these activities, including conducting door-knocking and welfare checks today on vulnerable members of the community.
Federal government provides joint funding of $50m for NSW and Queensland
The emergency management minister, Jenny McAllister, is next up to provide an update.
She said the commonwealth has agreed to jointly fund – for NSW and Queensland – a $50m community relief fund.
This is to “provide councils with financial support to undertake essential immediate clean-up and restoration activities”, she said – including waste and debris removal from streets, properties and community assets, and restoration works.
Bureau provides key updates on TC Alfred status
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Matthew Collopy has also been providing a Tropical Cyclone Alfred update, and outlined some key updates:
TC Alfred remains a category 2 system, located 160km east of Brisbane
It has moved erratically, but is currently tracking 7km/h towards the south-east Queensland coast
It is expected to approach the Bay Islands after midnight and into early tomorrow
It will then move across Moreton Bay during Saturday morning and to the north of the Brisbane CBD
He said the “exact track is still uncertain” and warnings will now be updated every hour “based on the latest radar and satellite imagery”
Destructive winds up to 150km/h are possible about the exposed island coasts and coastal locations
As Alfred moves across Moreton Bay it may drop to a category 1 system – meaning destructive winds are unlikely for Brisbane itself, but potentially damaging winds of 120km/h
Waves have been observed over 10m, with these conditions expected to continue as the system approaches with “extreme coastal erosion and inundation of some areas”
Widespread daily rainfall totals of 300mm to 500mm is possible, meaning up to 800mm may fall for the event in 48 hours
A number of flood watches remain in place amid this rainfall
Crisafulli says twins born on Dulwich Island overnight amid cyclone
David Crisafulli took a moment to thank all the first responders and volunteers, as well as Queenslanders themselves for being prepared.
I know this is an unusual event. It’s been a long time since a cyclone crossed the coast this far south, but the way that people have treated this has been, quite frankly, remarkable. The vast majority of people have done the right thing.
He also sent his thoughts to affected communities in NSW who have already been battered by severe weather in recent years.
The premier said there was a moment of “magic” overnight when a set of twins were born on Dulwich Island.
We had paramedics and midwives who assisted the mum and they continue to care for her … [It’s] one of those little gems in an otherwise really, really stressful time for everybody.
Premier on schools, transport, schools
Continuing to address reporters, David Crisafulli said public transport continues to be closed in the south-east today.
Tomorrow, it will be closed from Noosa all the way to the border. Supermarkets are operating on a case-by-case basis, he added.
That is their decision and we’re continuing to give them the information and some remain open. Their challenge will be balancing being able to get their staff there and make sure that they have things like power and they manage their impacts.
In terms of schools, he said 1,049 schools are closed today, as well as 2,081 early childcare centres.
We will be making an announcement [on] Sunday to give people the opportunity to plan and most importantly to ensure that we don’t do it in the morning and cause confusion.
Queensland premier confident of water supply for south-east
David Crisafulli said there are 34 water treatment plants in south-east Queensland and all of them had been “fortified” with back-up provisions.
We’ve done a full analysis of the potential impacts on them. We’re in as best a position as possible to handle that and I’m confident in the ability to meet the water supply in the short- and long-term.
Crisafulli on power outages
David Crisafulli said “large parts of the population in the south-east” are without power. As we flagged earlier, this is around 40,000 people.
The premier said as soon as it’s safe to do so, crews would be “hooking into action to reconnect.”
We understand how important having electricity is at all times, particularly after a disaster when you’re cleaning up and you need a good night’s sleep … 1,200 staff have been pre-positioned and there are 800 Ergon staff at the other end of the state who are ready to return the favour to their mates down here from what we saw a few weeks ago.
Crisafulli says large, slow-moving system could bring ‘significant rainfall over long period of time’
On rainfall, the Queensland premier said in the past 24 hours 165mm was recorded at Lower Springbrook, as well as:
53mm at Currimbin Creek
102mm at Nerang
136mm at Coolangatta
134mm at Binna Burra
David Crisafulli said Queensland should expect “significant rainfall in the next 24 to 48 hours right across that system and maybe even beyond.”
It is really large and slow-moving [system] and that does represent the prospect of some significant rainfall over a long period of time. And that rainfall brings the risk of river and creek flooding.
No reports of storm tide inundation, premier says
David Crisafulli said representatives met this morning and “we’ve got no reports this morning of storm tide inundation.”
That is really, really good news. It truly is.
He said there would be another high tide this afternoon and another “slightly larger” tomorrow, “so we’ll continue to watch that as the system approaches”.
There were, however, some major waves, he said – higher than 10m off the coast – as well as erosion about Main Beach.
