Tropical Cyclone Alfred has turned west and is heading towards Australia’s east coast as residents in NSW’s Northern Rivers region prepare for the “great unknown” of another natural disaster. Alfred is expected to make landfall as a category 2 storm near Brisbane late on Thursday or early Friday,

Tropical Cyclone Alfred is expected to cross the south-east Queensland coast later this week, bringing significant wind, rain and coastal impacts.

More than four million people across Brisbane, the Sunshine coast and Gold Coast in Queensland as well as in northern NSW towns including Byron Bay and Lismore are planning for Cyclone Alfred. Locals been warned to brace for possible daily rainfall totals of 200 to 400 millimetres, life-threatening flash flooding and wind gusts up to 120km/h.

Tropical Cyclone Alfred is expected to cross the southeast Queensland coast late this Thursday as a Category 2 storm. The last tropical cyclone to make landfall in the region was ex-Tropical Cyclone Zoe in 1974, half a century ago.

Damaging winds, heavy rainfall and life-threatening floods are expected after the storm made a sudden shift toward Queensland.

As Cyclone Alfred is forecast to make landfall in southeast Queensland on Thursday, residents in Brisbane and the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales are being urged to take precautions.

As tropical Cyclone Alfred is expected to make landfall in Queensland later this week, councils in the state’s southeast have begun to reduce services including ferries and kerbside collection. The cyclone is currently approximately 560 kilometres off the east coast of the state,

Millions of residents along Australia’s east coast are on high alert for the arrival of Tropical Cyclone Alfred.