‘Several disasters at once’: Lismore city predicted to flood within hours as cyclone downgraded

“Today, effectively, is D-Day. Irrespective of the crossing of the cyclone currently in Queensland, we’re still seeing very strong winds, but more importantly, we’re still seeing very heavy rainfalls, and therefore river rises, flash flooding and continued inundation of many areas,” he said.

The State Emergency Service (SES) has 131 warnings, 40 of which are emergency warnings, in place across the state. About 20,000 residents are now under evacuation warnings. Flood advice warnings extend as far south as Taree and as far west as Coonamble, north of Dubbo.

Watch and Act orders have also been issued for areas in Dorrigo, which has received 800 millimetres of rainfall, and in Bellingen. Evacuation orders were issued on Saturday morning to residents in East Bellingen, Woodburn and Cabbage Tree Island. Overnight, residents in Mullumbimby were told to leave before 8am.

Wind intensity dropped as Alfred crossed Moreton Island, off the coast of Queensland, about 2am. Wind gusts of up to 85km/h are now being recorded, down from a previous high of 155km/h. It is now expected to cross the mainland coast between Maroochydore and Bribie Island on Saturday morning and to weaken in strength as it approaches.

NSW Deputy Premier Prue Car said the region was dealing with “several disasters at once”.

“It’s not just the onslaught of the actual passing of the ex-tropical cyclone, but of course, the heavy wind and the rainfall and the subsequent flash flooding that we’re seeing in places like Lismore,” she said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Saturday morning that residents in the region would experience “lasting” mental health issues as a result of forecast flooding and evacuations.

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“Some of these communities have copped it time and time again, and that just makes it so tough for people who’ve rebuilt and recovered and who then find another wave of trauma heading their way along with the cyclone,” he said.

Over 300 schools in NSW’s north will remain closed on Monday. An update on whether they will remain closed on Tuesday will be provided later this weekend.

The search for a man swept into floodwaters in northern NSW on Friday has been called off due to dangerous conditions.

The man was driving across a bridge in his 4WD 25km north-east of Dorrigo about 2pm. He initially managed to get out of the vehicle and secure himself to a tree branch about 30 metres from the river bank. However, he was swept away about 3pm and hasn’t been seen since.

A spokeswoman for NSW Police said conditions were too windy for a helicopter search, while many of the searchers were volunteers already deployed elsewhere to assist with the response to Alfred.

“Police are assessing the situation constantly and will deploy searchers as soon as possible,” she said.

Speaking in Lismore on Friday afternoon, NSW Premier Chris Minns said thousands of people had already left, following advice from the SES.

“If you’re one of the few people remaining in your house, and you’re in an evacuation area, you’re one of the only people in your street left, and you will literally be by yourself,” Minns said.

“Please follow these evacuation orders unless you have to stay off the roads.”

He remained in Lismore on Saturday, meeting with residents.

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Over a quarter of a million homes are without power across Queensland and NSW. Nearly 240,000 of those outages are in South East Queensland alone, and a further 43,000 in NSW are without power as the storm hinders repair efforts.

There are 21 evacuation centres open, which have received nearly 750 people.

Minister for the North Coast Rose Jackson said there had been significant challenges at evacuation centres as road closures hindered restocking.

On Friday night, gale force winds blew the roof off an unoccupied evacuation centre.

“There are issues with our partner organisations moving food and bedding around. The M1 has been closed for some time, and that does provide some challenges accessing the centres, but we worked through that yesterday and ensured that everyone who turned up to an evacuation centre had access to some food and had access to bedding,” she said.

Tweed residents are under emergency water restrictions as power outages impact water pumps. Drinking water can be collected at evacuation centres.

The weather bureau’s latest update, current at 8.30am on Saturday (AEDT), forecast Alfred to cross the mainland around midday on Saturday.

Alfred was 65 kilometres north-east of Brisbane and 40 kilometres south-east of Maroochydore and was moving at 9km/h. It was previously forecast to hit Brisbane’s CBD but will now hit north of the city.

The cyclone swell caused a whale carcass, which had been buried on a beach in Mooball Beach, in Tweed in NSW’s north coast, to wash ashore earlier on Saturday morning.

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