Speaker 1: Skying in center. This is Paul Murray Live. Get I mate,
Speaker 1: and welcome to Redcliffe, which is to the north of Brisbane.
Speaker 1: We are on the ground as tropical cyclone our Fred
Speaker 1: is beginning to start to show what the next couple
Speaker 1: of days is going to be like in southeast Queensland
Speaker 1: and in northern New South Wales. In a moment I'll
Speaker 1: be joined by reporters all over this region with the
Speaker 1: very latest information for people who are in the area
Speaker 1: and obviously what you need to know around the rest
Speaker 1: of the country. Now, let me give you an idea
Speaker 1: of what today has been like in and around Brisbane. Frankly,
Speaker 1: it's been dare I say, a little bit like Melbourne's
Speaker 1: so the four seasons in one day it was blue skies.
Speaker 1: This morning it was pretty warm. It's been humid, very
Speaker 1: still at times, and then there would be big bursts
Speaker 1: of wind and then rain. That here in Redcliffe has
Speaker 1: been the story of the past couple of hours. Let
Speaker 1: me try to give you an idea of where we
Speaker 1: are and where tropical Cyclone Alfred is right now. Put
Speaker 1: simply two hundred and fifty clicks that way out to
Speaker 1: sea is where Alfred is currently moving only at a
Speaker 1: speed of about three kilometers an hour. So do your
Speaker 1: sums and then you can start to work out about
Speaker 1: exactly when the moment is going to be that people
Speaker 1: have been planning for and many are fearing. Now. The
Speaker 1: expectation was that we will be dealing with something at
Speaker 1: the early part of Friday morning. That moved to Friday afternoon,
Speaker 1: and at this stage the latest information from the Bureau
Speaker 1: of Meteorology is that the worst of it will be
Speaker 1: in full force by the very early hours of Saturday morning.
Speaker 1: Now we're going to be here through the whole thing
Speaker 1: to give you the information. And also Queensland's been so
Speaker 1: kind to me, so kind to us, so it's time
Speaker 1: to be here with them. The preparations that have been
Speaker 1: taking place all day are honestly pretty amazing to see.
Speaker 1: Now there's a couple of myths that I want to
Speaker 1: deal with just before stuff starts to ramp up over
Speaker 1: the next couple of days. There is food in Brisbane.
Speaker 1: I was told on our way up here that we
Speaker 1: had to bring food. We had to bring bottles of water.
Speaker 1: Know there is plenty of it. The panic buying that
Speaker 1: may will have happened in coals and woolies. Yes, that
Speaker 1: is a thing. However, if you want to find a
Speaker 1: bottle of water, there's a service station almost every few
Speaker 1: hundred meters, so there's plenty of ways to keep yourself going.
Speaker 1: But also the spirit of Queensland. Is this something we'll
Speaker 1: talk about, no doubt on the other side of this
Speaker 1: as well as another mud army will form to clean
Speaker 1: whatever is going to be the issues here of this
Speaker 1: tropical cyclone. But today I have the opportunity to go
Speaker 1: and see what with my own eyes what a lot
Speaker 1: of us have been seeing for the past couple of days,
Speaker 1: and that's long patient queues of people trying to find sandbags,
Speaker 1: trying to find sandbags to make sure that when the
Speaker 1: waters start to move, and remember storm surges are suggesting
Speaker 1: that we could be up over one point two meters,
Speaker 1: particularly down around the Gold Coast right now. Is that
Speaker 1: people want to make sure that the war, when it
Speaker 1: inevitably starts moving, doesn't go underneath the door into the
Speaker 1: garage all of the little issues. And that's why people
Speaker 1: have been lining up for days literally hundreds of thousands
Speaker 1: of sandbags. Now, this operation is one that I've got
Speaker 1: to say is one of the most orderly I've ever seen.
Speaker 1: Now today most of the schools were shut in Southeast Queensland.
Speaker 1: Today many people adhered the advice to work from home.
Speaker 1: But this was our experience of being able to see
Speaker 1: people getting ready for what's going to be a big
Speaker 1: couple of days. We don't know what's coming, but what's
Speaker 1: your feeling and preparedness for it.
Speaker 2: I think we're well prepared, Like everyone's still anxious to
Speaker 2: see how it.
Speaker 3: Is, and the cyclone slowed down a bit, so I
Speaker 3: think we're ready.
Speaker 1: So vincent. We know that you're here to help dad
Speaker 1: and there's a cyclone coming, But how good is getting
Speaker 1: today and tomorrow off school?
Speaker 4: Very well?
Speaker 1: I've seen plenty of things come and go in this
Speaker 1: part of the world. How are you feeling ahead of
Speaker 1: this one? Be worried about this?
Speaker 5: Back in twenty twenty had that rain event and I
Speaker 5: got watered downstairs in a high set. So yeah, so
Speaker 5: I want to make sure it's all seeing bagged up today.
Speaker 1: And I hope you don't mind me asking. But after
Speaker 1: going through those experiences, are you insured not insured? Is
Speaker 1: it hard? I mean, what's it like to try to
Speaker 1: stay on top of that?
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's always gone up the premium. So yeah, so
Speaker 5: they got chess. So it's not much you can do.
Speaker 1: What's your message to everyone about the next couple of days,
Speaker 1: how to get through it?
Speaker 5: Yeah, just stay with your family, button down and batton
Speaker 5: down and we'll get through it.
Speaker 1: We're Queenslanders. Sandbags sandbags sandbags. There have been more than
Speaker 1: four hundred thousand that have been taken up by the
Speaker 1: good people of Southeast Queensland. Now, what is diff about
Speaker 1: the way they do it in Brisbane is that that
Speaker 1: is the responsibility of the local council. Brisbane City Council,
Speaker 1: of course, represents an entire metropolitan area and in the past,
Speaker 1: at twenty four hours they have already handed out more
Speaker 1: sandbags than they did in the significant floods of teen
Speaker 1: years ago. What is also incredible here is that you've
Speaker 1: got people that are picking them up not just for
Speaker 1: their own family, but for their neighbors as well. How's
Speaker 1: the preparation going, Yeah, not too bad.
Speaker 6: We're not too bad off on ourselves, but our neighbors
Speaker 6: that are probably a little bit more precarious. So we're
Speaker 6: just getting some sandbags for her today.
Speaker 1: Oh fantastic, that's very cool. So because she can't get
Speaker 1: down here.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it was her garage flood, so she's already got
Speaker 6: a car in there and she can't get it out obviously.
Speaker 6: So we're able to help so well. She helps us
Speaker 6: at times with our dog, so that's cool. And speaking
Speaker 6: of help, this is the best help ever, right? Can
Speaker 6: I say hi to you on the TV? How many
Speaker 6: sandbags have you filled today?
Speaker 1: This is still my first time. We know people are
Speaker 1: Queensland tough, but what do you want to say to
Speaker 1: anyone who's watching the telly and just maybe a little
Speaker 1: nervous about the next couple of days.
Speaker 5: They just do what you've got to do around house,
Speaker 5: tie everything down that's loose and just keep safe and
Speaker 5: making sure everything squared away.
Speaker 1: And you're already this endbangging site was not meant to
Speaker 1: be open today, but because of the delay of Alfred
Speaker 1: actually crossing the coast, they've been able to get a
Speaker 1: few hours in. You know, mate, how are you?
Speaker 7: So?
Speaker 1: Are very good?
Speaker 7: It? Wait now?
Speaker 8: So far.
Speaker 1: As soon as we landed in Brisbane, we put a
Speaker 1: message up on our show's Facebook page which was if
Speaker 1: you're in Brisbane, we want to see how you are preparing.
Speaker 1: Dave is a loyal Paul Murray Live fan, Thank you, sir, pleasure,
Speaker 1: and we've got in his backyard right now. Basically, if
Speaker 1: it moves, if it could fly, the straps are down.
Speaker 1: Well done, that's it, Thanks Paul.
Speaker 9: Yeah, we've done the best we can. Next is the
Speaker 9: garbage brings everything downside of the house or strap them
Speaker 9: down with tape and done the windows a little bit.
Speaker 9: But honestly, I've had sky and nears on and I've
Speaker 9: had the app on the bomb open on the other screens,
Speaker 9: so trying to be aware of it but not too
Speaker 9: aware of it.
Speaker 1: Thank you Dave's beautiful wife and family as well for
Speaker 1: letting us into their house. But simply, people don't really
Speaker 1: know what is about to happen in the next couple
Speaker 1: of days. We know where the briefings are, we know
Speaker 1: where the expectations are. Of course, everyone's fingers crossed that
Speaker 1: this is something that will skirt mon't be as big
Speaker 1: a problem, and obviously that's what all of us hope
Speaker 1: for here, But the reality is that we don't know
Speaker 1: exactly where this thing is going to hit. But I
Speaker 1: continue some of the early lashings are starting to be
Speaker 1: felt on the Gold Coast that's where Jonathan Lee is
Speaker 1: our reporter, and he is in Burly Heads right now. Mate,
Speaker 1: how are we well? The night before the storm.
Speaker 2: Yeah, ominos, I suppose is the best way to describe it, Paul.
Speaker 2: It was a bluebird morning, stunning, people were out getting coffees,
Speaker 2: and then you have the rental rain at times and
Speaker 2: you think it's all on, it's happening.
Speaker 10: You get the nervous energy and it stops.
Speaker 2: And if you're going through that as a journalist and
Speaker 2: a media crew, you've got to pay respects to the
Speaker 2: locals and what.
Speaker 10: They're going through at the moment.
Speaker 2: They're understandably exceptionally nervous and in some cases scared, and
Speaker 2: for very good reason. We perhaps should start with the
Speaker 2: concerning news. Police have told me they've had dozens of
Speaker 2: reports of people swimming in the oceans, which they've responded to.
Speaker 2: At five o'clock this evening, a man was pulled from
Speaker 2: Palm Beach, Corumbin. Onlookers performed CPR and he has been
Speaker 2: taken to Gold Coast Hospital. I've also been told that
Speaker 2: two men were rescued from Sunshine Beach up on the
Speaker 2: Sunny Coast. They were treading water for around fifty minutes
Speaker 2: before they were finally saved. So stay out of the water,
Speaker 2: don't go anywhere near it, and don't be treading on
Speaker 2: the sand dunes if they're looking broken and fractured.
Speaker 10: Is pretty good advice, Paul.
Speaker 2: If I can give you an idea of some of
Speaker 2: the weather conditions down here, well you can probably get
Speaker 2: the best gauge when you look at the ocean swell.
Speaker 2: Yesterday there was a maximum height of twelve point three
Speaker 2: meters on the Gold Coast. Today there was one recorded
Speaker 2: at sixteen point five meters. It appears that broke the boy,
Speaker 2: so they haven't been able to corroborate that. Yesterday in
Speaker 2: Brisbane it was ten point nine today sixteen point eight eight.
Speaker 10: It looks like that is another record.
Speaker 2: Also, two hundred and thirty four calls for assistance to
Speaker 2: the Sees Southeast Queens and we're looking at around two
Speaker 2: thousand calls in total to the Sees.
Speaker 10: Top wind speed.
Speaker 2: Today of around eighty kilometers an hour.
Speaker 10: That's going to go up.
Speaker 2: It looks like we could have wind gusts down here
Speaker 2: of one hundred and fifty kilometers now, the reason being
Speaker 2: we are south of the eye of the storm.
Speaker 10: That's where things get nasty.
Speaker 2: What happens out in the ocean and out off the
Speaker 2: coast is getting thrown at the Gold Coast tonight, we'll
Speaker 2: expect to have between two hundred and four hundred millimeters
Speaker 2: of rain tomorrow and the day after.
Speaker 1: Forgive me for saying the obvious, but the idea that
Speaker 1: people are swimming in this stuff. I mean Mick Fanning,
Speaker 1: a world champion swimmer, swimmer surfer, he was out and
Speaker 1: about and yesterday he got bashed up by it. Obviously
Speaker 1: no one should be going there, but people are, I
Speaker 1: don't know, in the era of selfies, trying to trying
Speaker 1: to do these things. That's your own choice, but it's
Speaker 1: the danger that you put the emergency services in. And
Speaker 1: of course any one person who's responding to that is
Speaker 1: not going to be responding to something else, and that,
Speaker 1: of course is just a waste of time and energy,
Speaker 1: isn't it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly right, it's not what the emergency services need.
Speaker 2: Paula was very fortunate today to also get down to
Speaker 2: my Woollombar just over the border on the Tweed River.
Speaker 10: An incredible community, incredible spirit.
Speaker 2: I know you've talked at length to them about them
Speaker 2: before and exactly what they went through in twenty twenty
Speaker 2: two and in twenty seventeen. In fact, last time, they
Speaker 2: were cut off in some cases for weeks at end.
Speaker 2: There's understandably been panic buying down. They're expected to get
Speaker 2: batted again. We talked to a few of the locals.
Speaker 2: This is what they very warmly had to say about
Speaker 2: their experience thus far.
Speaker 4: We have been super busy, Like we sold out yesterday.
Speaker 4: You looked around the shop here and we did our best,
Speaker 4: but there was hardly a anything left.
Speaker 7: People are nervous panic buying very much.
Speaker 4: So yeah, we've had lots of people in buying up big.
Speaker 10: What is twenty seventeen and twenty twenty two taught you?
Speaker 4: It's better to be safe than sorry, for sure. I
Speaker 4: don't think anyone's silly for doing what they're doing because
Speaker 4: they've been burnt before. One of the girls that works here,
Speaker 4: she actually was stuck in her house in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 3: I hope it turns away. Realistically, comes in, it's going
Speaker 3: to do a lot of damage.
Speaker 2: What's the community around your feeling because it's been battered
Speaker 2: a few times.
Speaker 1: Morel's pretty low.
Speaker 3: It's like here we go again, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Just they just got out of the last one. You know.
Speaker 3: Morell was low for a couple of years and then
Speaker 3: the town picked itself up, and here we go again.
Speaker 11: Doing our best to keep the kids calm and entertained.
Speaker 11: We're outside playing, making the most of the sunshine. At
Speaker 11: the moment.
Speaker 2: Do you say the words cyclone? Do you talk about
Speaker 2: the wind? What's the strategy's appearing?
Speaker 11: Look, we've talked about the wind and the floods and
Speaker 11: just sort of being as real as possible and being calm,
Speaker 11: being as prepared. They've seen us put everything up, they've
Speaker 11: seen us prepare evacuation kit, so yeah, they know what's happening.
Speaker 1: Thank you, John, to get your restumete. You'll need it
Speaker 1: for the next couple of days along with everyone else
Speaker 1: there on the Goldie Strength and love to everyone there.
Speaker 1: Harry Clark is our Queensland reporter. He's a Victoria Point
Speaker 1: in Brisbane. What's the latest there, mate? Get a Paul well.
Speaker 12: As John I was saying, it's all pretty unpredictable when
Speaker 12: this thing is actually going to start in Earnest. It's
Speaker 12: been coming and going, the rain and the wind all day,
Speaker 12: every time you think it's just about to set in,
Speaker 12: will it clears out again and blue sky is poking through.
Speaker 12: But there's just a bit of a drizzle here now,
Speaker 12: when you would think by the time we're waking up
Speaker 12: the morning, there's going to be some pretty consistent rain,
Speaker 12: getting heavier and heavier as the hours go by and
Speaker 12: topical cipher and Alfred gets closer and closer to crossing
Speaker 12: the coast. The big concern here on these bayside suburbs,
Speaker 12: there's plenty of low cuntree, a lot of low lying
Speaker 12: homes right up on the water's edge. So unlike the
Speaker 12: Gold Coast where you've got this beach front and then
Speaker 12: up onto the Glitter Strip, here there's actually waterfront homes
Speaker 12: right down on the shoreline and plenty of canal residential
Speaker 12: dwellings as well. So what they're calling the astronomical tide,
Speaker 12: that's the highest tide expected in a year. The Bureau
Speaker 12: expert forecasts are saying that the storm surge potentially from
Speaker 12: Tropical Cyclone Alfred, will be up to a meter and
Speaker 12: a half above that astronomical astronomical high tide level. So
Speaker 12: if you combine that when it's crossing the Coast. Then
Speaker 12: there could very well be plenty of homes over on
Speaker 12: these bayside suburbs to get water coming into them. There's
Speaker 12: a lot of streets are right up on the water.
Speaker 12: But it's interesting. They think they're going to be right.
Speaker 12: They're up above you know, rock embatements and that kind
Speaker 12: of thing, but they're not taking any chances, even though
Speaker 12: they think it's not going to come over it. In
Speaker 12: certain areas, they've got sand bags up and they've cleared
Speaker 12: the debris from their homes.
Speaker 1: But it is just a wait and see.
Speaker 12: There hasn't been a major cyclone here since the seventies
Speaker 12: and the fifties in the case of the Gold Coast,
Speaker 12: and a lot of people weren't alive then. So it's
Speaker 12: just going to be a matter of waiting and seeing
Speaker 12: what happens when this storm comes in early tomorrow Saturday morning.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Harry, one of the reasons why we're here in
Speaker 1: Redcliffe is because well, firstly, I've got plenty of mates
Speaker 1: here and I love them very much, but also because
Speaker 1: it's an area where you know, once the rain starts
Speaker 1: to get in, the saw gets pretty sodden pretty quickly,
Speaker 1: and obviously there's a whole bunch of problems that start there.
Speaker 1: Let's be quite specific for people who live in Brisbane.
Speaker 1: Do we have any sense of areas of concern? Feel
Speaker 1: free to name suburbs. I know it's a national show,
Speaker 1: but give us an idea for those people who may
Speaker 1: have family or friends or have visited this wonderful part
Speaker 1: of the world. What are apart from those bayside areas,
Speaker 1: what are some of the suburbs people need to be
Speaker 1: particularly vigilant in.
Speaker 12: Well, when you come to Inland Brisbane, Brisbane proper, the
Speaker 12: suburbs of concerned are going to be a lot of
Speaker 12: those have experienced water through them before, back in twenty
Speaker 12: eleven the floods and also twenty twenty two, so places
Speaker 12: like Nudge Beach, Rockley, Ashgrove, Milton, Rosalie, Tuwong over your
Speaker 12: Wronger Pilly. Those areas that river in a flooding area
Speaker 12: that the residents are familiar with. They're the ones to
Speaker 12: watch out for. But it is an unpredictable how it's
Speaker 12: going to behave where the actual rain falls. It's not
Speaker 12: a river flood as such, this one because it's coming
Speaker 12: from the coast and the water is not sort of
Speaker 12: falling over land like the other big big weather events
Speaker 12: we've had. But Rockley, Nudgy Beach, Windsor is well as
Speaker 12: another one those inner western suburbs, parts of Walk and Flower.
Speaker 12: Rosalie Village is pretty much the lowest street in Brisbane,
Speaker 12: so those you would expect would be the first ones
Speaker 12: to go under. Just off Park Road there at Milton,
Speaker 12: pretty close to where I live, actually is going to
Speaker 12: be threatened by flood waters, no doubt, But you're wrong. Pilly, Rockerilely,
Speaker 12: Oxley are some of the suburbs to name but a few.
Speaker 1: Good on you boys, Thank you very much again, have
Speaker 1: your rest because we've got plenty ahead of us in
Speaker 1: the next couple of days. Of course, as soon as
Speaker 1: the sun rises, they'll be here with first edition with
Speaker 1: Pete in the morning all the way through to us
Speaker 1: tomorrow night. Alison Osbourne is a meteorologist with Sky News Weather.
Speaker 1: Allison give us an idea of some of the early
Speaker 1: impacts of this tropical cyclone, Alfred.
Speaker 13: Paul Well right behind me, you can see cool and
Speaker 13: Gatta Beach disappearing in a storm surge today. These are
Speaker 13: the kind of waves that make swimming extremely dangerous, even unthinkable.
Speaker 13: They can lead to quite dangerous flooding in the surf
Speaker 13: zone and also enough to break the waveboy that measures
Speaker 13: those wave heights off the Gold Coast. Now, the stop
Speaker 13: start rain that you all have been talking about this evening,
Speaker 13: you can see it has been rolling on in as
Speaker 13: the rainbands headotropical Cyclone Alfred roll on through. But it
Speaker 13: is this dark echo out to see. This is not
Speaker 13: stop start. This will be the heavy, persistent rain as
Speaker 13: that system crosses the coast.
Speaker 8: It is on its way.
Speaker 13: We've seen damaging wind gars in excess of one hundred
Speaker 13: and five kilometers per.
Speaker 8: Uric cake byron.
Speaker 13: Today the winds are picking up through the coasters well.
Speaker 13: Tropical cyclone warnings remain current for all communities between Double
Speaker 13: Island Point in Queensland and Grafton in New South Wales.
Speaker 13: That warning area hasn't changed, it's just the timing of
Speaker 13: the impacts and the duration which are now being impacted.
Speaker 1: Yeah, amazing graphics, particularly that very ominous sense of as
Speaker 1: you say, the stop start range that becomes quite persistent,
Speaker 1: quite difficult again twenty four to seven, make sure that
Speaker 1: you can check out the weather channel on Foxtel and
Speaker 1: also at Sky news dot Com dot Au. Now, Allison,
Speaker 1: give us an idea as this as the tropical cyclone
Speaker 1: is slowing, that of course is delaying its ultimate impact.
Speaker 1: What does that mean for the people who are in
Speaker 1: the path.
Speaker 13: Of this thing, Well, Paul I would say to everyone
Speaker 13: in this area in red this is very much an
Speaker 13: underway event now, even though we have more than twenty
Speaker 13: four hours before this system the coast. At this stage,
Speaker 13: coastal crossing is likely between newser and Cool and Gata
Speaker 13: in the early hours of Saturday morning. The system is
Speaker 13: likely to weaken as it crosses the islands off Morton Bay,
Speaker 13: so Stradbroke Island and Morton Island likely reaching a Category
Speaker 13: one by the time it does so. But it's the
Speaker 13: areas to the south of the system crossing. So at
Speaker 13: this stage this forecast model and the official forecast track
Speaker 13: pill has that heavier rain and more destructive winds over Brisbane,
Speaker 13: the Gold Coast and the Byron Coast. So whether or
Speaker 13: not you'll be impacted by the most dangerous impacts on
Speaker 13: Friday night and into Saturday morning will depend on ultimately
Speaker 13: where that system crosses. So this is why that warning
Speaker 13: area is very extensive. Of those who need to be
Speaker 13: prepared from Double Island Point in Queensland right the.
Speaker 8: Way through to the Coffs Coast.
Speaker 13: We're watching for the threat of destructive winds but also
Speaker 13: heavy rain. Twenty four hour rainfall totals three hundred and
Speaker 13: fifty to four hundred and fifty millimeters.
Speaker 8: It's a huge amount of.
Speaker 13: Rain which can lead to very dangerous flash flooding, so
Speaker 13: stay off the roads. Destructive winds are most likely just
Speaker 13: south of the system center as it crosses Paul.
Speaker 8: Meanwhile, damaging winds are.
Speaker 13: Possible throughout this entire yellow shaded area over the course
Speaker 13: of Friday and inn to Saturday.
Speaker 8: Now flooding this is likely to be a.
Speaker 13: Prolonged impact since the storm has really slowed down. Therefore,
Speaker 13: the Bureau Meteorology has issued initial major flood warnings for
Speaker 13: a number of river catchments in northern New South Wales
Speaker 13: and down towards the mid North Coast, including the Wilsons River,
Speaker 13: the Brunswick River and the Nambuca River.
Speaker 8: In terms of the flood.
Speaker 13: Timings, major flooding at this stage is likely from late
Speaker 13: Friday night, so heavy rain kicking in tomorrow, but then
Speaker 13: that flood impact that could continue well after the system
Speaker 13: has made landfall.
Speaker 1: Allison, thank you for all the information. You can't get
Speaker 1: enough of it at this time. What you guys are
Speaker 1: doing at the Weather Channel is always amazing, and it's
Speaker 1: going is whether we really do appreciate everything that you
Speaker 1: guys are doing. Now, as you saw on the bottom
Speaker 1: of the screen, we can't fly in to southeast Queensland
Speaker 1: or northern New South Wales anymore. It's one of the
Speaker 1: reasons why after the show last night, the very first
Speaker 1: chance we got we took because this afternoon Brisbane Airport
Speaker 1: no longer taking the domestic flights. Both virgin and Quatas
Speaker 1: have said no more. The same for the Sunny Coast
Speaker 1: and the Maruchi do Or Airport a little further down
Speaker 1: towards Ballina, which is often the way people will get
Speaker 1: into Byron Bay, that too is now unavailable for flight now.
Speaker 1: Even flying in this morning, when as I said, it
Speaker 1: was the beginning of a pretty blue sky day, pretty
Speaker 1: bumpy right on the way in, we had to do
Speaker 1: plenty of circles. So imagine what this would have been
Speaker 1: like if they were trying to fly tonight and into tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Good safety decisions made by the airlines. Now again, if
Speaker 1: you're one of these people that are on some of
Speaker 1: those outlying islands, be it Straty or all of these ones,
Speaker 1: can you get in touch with us Paulotskynews dot com
Speaker 1: dot you because I want to talk to you tomorrow
Speaker 1: or not on the show. We are absolutely aware of
Speaker 1: what is happening in your communities, so let's make sure
Speaker 1: that the country knows everything that is happening with you now.
Speaker 1: As you know, in natural disasters, it comes down to
Speaker 1: often the premiere of a state to be able to
Speaker 1: pull all of the information together and to set a
Speaker 1: nice even tone. Yes, you have to tell people what
Speaker 1: is at stake, but clearly you don't want to panic personally.
Speaker 1: I think the new Premier of Queens And David Crucifoley
Speaker 1: is passing that mark with flying colors. But we have
Speaker 1: the opportunity to go to the emergency center in Kedron
Speaker 1: in the middle of Brisbane a bit earlier today and
Speaker 1: we went behind the scenes with the premiere, not just
Speaker 1: about the messages but how they are being put together now,
Speaker 1: what information they might know just before us, and why
Speaker 1: the Premier is committed to the second he knows we
Speaker 1: know David Crucifoley is the Premier of Queensland. Love you
Speaker 1: to see you. I'm sorry it's under these circumstances.
Speaker 7: But it's great to you're here though, Thank you very
Speaker 7: very much.
Speaker 1: Now from behind us is where you give the message
Speaker 1: multiple times a day, and that message has been one
Speaker 1: that feels like it is extending and it's coming and
Speaker 1: then it's going. What's your sense in and around making
Speaker 1: sure that people don't get frustrated with how things change.
Speaker 7: I've been through a lot of these.
Speaker 14: They are anything but predictable, and they'll speed up, they'll
Speaker 14: slow down. Overnight, it did a circle on itself and
Speaker 14: then started coming towards the case again. All we can
Speaker 14: do is give people information. And you mentioned about this room.
Speaker 14: I'm a big believer in you just give people info.
Speaker 14: And if you continue to do that and you say
Speaker 14: to people, well, this is what I know today. In
Speaker 14: one of our earlier press conferences, I had literally received
Speaker 14: some information five minutes before we went and did it.
Speaker 7: And rather than wait for the next one, I'll give it.
Speaker 7: I'll give it to people.
Speaker 14: I have this fundamental view that this authoritarian I'll keep
Speaker 14: the information. It never works, it ends badly for everyone.
Speaker 14: I'm always of the belief if you've got information, you
Speaker 14: give it, people will make the right decisions.
Speaker 1: So can you give us an idea of operationally how
Speaker 1: all of this is working. Where obviously you could go
Speaker 1: crazy running around and asking everyone to refresh their screens,
Speaker 1: but I'm assuming there's a set time each hour where
Speaker 1: everything gets refreshed. There's a top of our give us
Speaker 1: an idea of what happens in between the press conference.
Speaker 14: So the weather Bureau update every three hours as it
Speaker 14: gets closer.
Speaker 7: When it's crossing, we'll do that hourly. So you have
Speaker 7: satellites that.
Speaker 14: Go over it and in real time that information comes back.
Speaker 14: And what it does is it enables us to say, okay,
Speaker 14: this is the track. So we then say this is
Speaker 14: how quickly it's going per hour, and then you model.
Speaker 7: What it looks like.
Speaker 14: So a couple of days ago, we thought it was
Speaker 14: going to cross the coast deep into Thursday night early
Speaker 14: Friday morning. That was about high tide early morning Friday
Speaker 14: high tide.
Speaker 7: That's where the big risk is.
Speaker 14: That's now pushed back, and so initially it was pushed
Speaker 14: back into Friday, and I thought this is great, but
Speaker 14: the modeling is now showing it going deeper into Saturday,
Speaker 14: so we're back with the same headache. The reason why
Speaker 14: that's so problematic is if it crosses on high tide,
Speaker 14: that's when those storm surges can really matter. And some
Speaker 14: of the predictions are point five to one meter, some
Speaker 14: of them even a little bit higher over and above
Speaker 14: that highest tie.
Speaker 7: That's a problem.
Speaker 14: So that's why we said to people, go on to
Speaker 14: that website and we've got all of the councils have
Speaker 14: fed in their data and people can see if they
Speaker 14: are in a storm surge area and if you are,
Speaker 14: we want people to have an evacuation plan. Can you
Speaker 14: go and stay with friends and family? But has just
Speaker 14: absorbed that information and make an informed decision if they're not.
Speaker 14: That's the vast majority of Queenslanders stay home. The safest
Speaker 14: place for you is in your home. Do the little
Speaker 14: things move the stuff from around the ard and you'll
Speaker 14: be find.
Speaker 1: So with the information that you're getting, I mean, we
Speaker 1: live in this world now where what is available online
Speaker 1: through governments, through councils, through the bureau is amazing. Is
Speaker 1: there a layer of data that is just slightly more complicated,
Speaker 1: but basically the same time as everyone else is saying.
Speaker 14: And my view as you give the data and if
Speaker 14: you don't, what happens is you then have momentum that
Speaker 14: gets away from you. So we picked up earlier in
Speaker 14: the day that some people were saying that the electricity
Speaker 14: providers would turn off power before the system comes.
Speaker 7: So we had the head of energy say, come.
Speaker 1: And say, whack it on the head.
Speaker 14: Wack it on the head, Garbet, and he said, why
Speaker 14: would I turn off power?
Speaker 7: Mother nature does it for me. I want to keep
Speaker 7: it on as long as it can.
Speaker 14: It was one of those beautiful moments where you say, okay,
Speaker 14: that's how you address information, and by doing that, the
Speaker 14: everyday person at home says, okay, great, I'll get my
Speaker 14: news from the right source.
Speaker 7: So I'm a big believer. Just keep updating.
Speaker 1: So again you've spoken about the four different threats. Again
Speaker 1: for those that aren't seeing the latest of the briefings,
Speaker 1: what are those wind?
Speaker 14: Water, rain, and flooding And in the end, everyone in
Speaker 14: that zone is going to get something or a combination
Speaker 14: of them that is becoming inevitable. If you look at
Speaker 14: the system, we've already had winds that have just clocked
Speaker 14: one hundred klimeters an hour on some of those outer islands.
Speaker 7: So it's coming now. You just got to do the
Speaker 7: little things.
Speaker 14: And I've seen in these events that if you do
Speaker 14: those small things, the preparation, and overwhelmingly people get through them.
Speaker 14: And our job is to just let people know as
Speaker 14: we get that information.
Speaker 7: And I've got.
Speaker 14: Faith that the vast majority of people do not need
Speaker 14: the heavy hand of government saying breathe now, don't breathe now,
Speaker 14: don't drive.
Speaker 7: Don't do this.
Speaker 14: You give the information and wherever possible. Now, like I
Speaker 14: got asked today, will you close the roads today? No,
Speaker 14: because it's still safe to drive, and I need the
Speaker 14: ability for the emergency services personnel to go out, and
Speaker 14: I need the ability for the essential worker to go
Speaker 14: to the hospital and have the emergency department open. Now,
Speaker 14: when it reaches the point that it's no longer safe,
Speaker 14: you put the message out Okay, here it is, but
Speaker 14: there's no need to do that well ahead of the
Speaker 14: time when people can still go about their business.
Speaker 1: Again. I don't know if you can talk about it
Speaker 1: or want to talk about it, but behind the scenes,
Speaker 1: what's something that is happening in the rooms behind us
Speaker 1: and around us that is so vital. It might be
Speaker 1: a really small part or it's a really big part.
Speaker 1: People don't know about about what's happening here in four everything.
Speaker 14: So in the room underneath you is teams and we
Speaker 14: bring everyone together so it's sees, it's fire is, it's coppers,
Speaker 14: it's the Bureau of Meteorology, it's community volunteers and everyone's
Speaker 14: in one melting pot. And it's all about information flow.
Speaker 14: And when what we then do is we couple it in.
Speaker 14: We bring predominantly local government. Now I'm a big believer
Speaker 14: in you've got to get councils because ultimately they're the
Speaker 14: ones who are running the sandbags and running the evacuation centers.
Speaker 14: There's no point feeding them what you want them to know.
Speaker 7: They also should be part of it. You meet a
Speaker 7: couple of times a day.
Speaker 14: We make sure that all though information comes up, and
Speaker 14: it's around the clock, so it's they're long days, but
Speaker 14: it's fulfilling to see.
Speaker 1: It really is final message to Queensland wherever it happens
Speaker 1: to be and watching us. Now, we'll get it done.
Speaker 1: We always do.
Speaker 14: And it's been been half a century since the cyclone
Speaker 14: of this size came to the southern part of the state.
Speaker 7: But it's not unprecentered.
Speaker 14: It's happened before, happened in nineteen ninety, in nineteen seventy
Speaker 14: three and in nineteen fifty four. They do happen and
Speaker 14: you will get through it. And I've seen it at
Speaker 14: the other end of the state and made it really
Speaker 14: really tough stuff.
Speaker 7: Queenslanders are pretty tough.
Speaker 1: We'll be right, buddy O if you are, Thank you, Premier.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad that bloke is the Premiere of Queensland
Speaker 1: at this moment and for four years at least, we
Speaker 1: hope in my view to come in David crucifully Now,
Speaker 1: I don't want to overload systems, so maybe do this
Speaker 1: a little bit later at night. But there is a
Speaker 1: phenomenal website that the Queensland Government has set up over
Speaker 1: many years. It's not a partisan thing. It's been around
Speaker 1: for a long time. It's called disaster dot Qld dot
Speaker 1: gov dot Au, disaster dot Qld dot gov dot AU
Speaker 1: and in that it brings up a dashboard and you're
Speaker 1: able once you're at that dashboard to find your local
Speaker 1: council and get to local information information and certainly those
Speaker 1: of us who have been through fires and floods and
Speaker 1: lots of other things. The information can be a little
Speaker 1: bit sporadic, it feels real time information, and that's because
Speaker 1: this place is very practiced at dealing with situations like this.
Speaker 1: Of course, it is many generations since something as potentially
Speaker 1: big as this, And again, for those that are watching
Speaker 1: half paying attention, my absolute hope of the next couple
Speaker 1: of days is that we've prepared everyone and then something
Speaker 1: moves well and truly out to see. But all trajectory,
Speaker 1: all belief, all modeling is that it is going to
Speaker 1: make its way across landfall exactly where that eye is
Speaker 1: going to be. Some people will say that it is
Speaker 1: the CBD of Brisbane itself, some will say that it's Redcliffe,
Speaker 1: some will say that it is a little further down.
Speaker 1: But the whole point is, basically, for one of a
Speaker 1: bitter term that strikes own, it's all the way from
Speaker 1: the Sunny Coast into Brisbane, into the Gold Coast and
Speaker 1: into the Northern Rivers. Which is why we're going to
Speaker 1: talk to somebody from each of those local government areas next,
Speaker 1: because they know exactly what you need to know. More
Speaker 1: in a moment here from Redcliffe on Palmurray line. All right,
Speaker 1: let's find out exactly what is happening in your part
Speaker 1: of Australia or if you are watching us from outside
Speaker 1: of what is going to be the focus of the
Speaker 1: next few days. This is where your family is, it's
Speaker 1: where your friends are, it's where you've been on holidays.
Speaker 1: Have a look at this. We're now going to talk
Speaker 1: to the leaders of all of the communities that are
Speaker 1: going to be affected here. We're talking about from the
Speaker 1: Sunshine Coast through to Brisbane, the Gold Coast and into
Speaker 1: the Northern Rivers, and we're going to get to the
Speaker 1: Sunshine Coast in a moment. And I just wanted to
Speaker 1: make sure that people are keeping the emails coming, which
Speaker 1: is to Paullittskuyews dot com dot au, Rosanna and Natali
Speaker 1: is the mayor of the Sunshine Coast and she joins us.
Speaker 1: Now all right, Rosanna, some of the modeling says that
Speaker 1: the eye is a little further south. However, I've got
Speaker 1: family in your part of the world and they really
Speaker 1: want to know what is about to happen and what
Speaker 1: is the preparations that has been put in place by
Speaker 1: the great people of the Sunny Coast good evening.
Speaker 15: We have been preparing for a number of days now
Speaker 15: as we know, the cyclone has certainly taken a little
Speaker 15: time to get across the coast, so we have done
Speaker 15: a lot of sandbagging. There have been almost one hundred
Speaker 15: thousand sandbags filled by members of our community and across
Speaker 15: homes right across our region. Of course, making sure all
Speaker 15: of the supplies people have got food, water, batteries, all
Speaker 15: of those things in case we lose power or of
Speaker 15: course internet telecommunications, water might go, so that's been underway.
Speaker 15: We're also making sure that we have all of our
Speaker 15: maps on our disaster Hub website so you can have
Speaker 15: a look if your property is going to be impacted
Speaker 15: by a storm surge or by that riverine flooding that
Speaker 15: will come with the rain in a couple of days.
Speaker 15: Those maps are up there. So really we've been asking
Speaker 15: our community members to make sure they're aware, the yards
Speaker 15: are tidy. All of that sort of thing has been
Speaker 15: going on for days and now we wait. As difficult
Speaker 15: as it is to wait and watch, we know as
Speaker 15: well the cyclone did a loop de loop last night,
Speaker 15: so who knows what might happen. It's very unpredictable.
Speaker 8: So we are waiting and watching.
Speaker 1: Good on you, Rosanna. Thank you so much. I want
Speaker 1: everyone to keep attention again on that website. Can you
Speaker 1: give it one more time for the local information for
Speaker 1: people on the Sunny Coast.
Speaker 15: Yes, it is disaster hub dot Sunshine Coast dot QLD,
Speaker 15: dot gov dot AU.
Speaker 1: Good stuff. Thank you so much. Josh Mitchell is the
Speaker 1: mayor of Redland City. That's exactly where I am right now,
Speaker 1: so give us an idea about your preparations.
Speaker 16: So we're probably mirroring a lot of what Rosanna just
Speaker 16: talked about. I think probably local councils are all dealing
Speaker 16: with the same issue issues right now. We have put
Speaker 16: a lot of airfitt into preparation as well. However, we're
Speaker 16: very much on alert right now given the latest updates.
Speaker 16: So northern North Stradbroke Island is due to see some
Speaker 16: a big uptake in winds from about two to four
Speaker 16: am tomorrow morning. So we're trying to get the message
Speaker 16: out to residents right now, particularly on North Stradbroke Island,
Speaker 16: to prepare.
Speaker 8: For the impact of those winds.
Speaker 16: So category two cyclone, you know, we're expecting rims of
Speaker 16: well over one hundred pa so yeah, we're asking everyone
Speaker 16: to make sure they're in a safe position, that they've
Speaker 16: done all their preparation and they're ready for the wind
Speaker 16: and the tides when they come.
Speaker 1: Josh, when do you the opportunities end for people to
Speaker 1: be able to get off something like strati So they
Speaker 1: actually ended on Tuesday.
Speaker 16: Ferry services cease on Tuesday, so we put a lot
Speaker 16: of messaging out prior to that saying that if you
Speaker 16: felt the need to leave the island, then you know,
Speaker 16: to make that decision. At that time, we also had
Speaker 16: assistance from the Queensland Police Service or knocking low lying
Speaker 16: areas that were addressed or identified during our mapping phase
Speaker 16: and we provided residents with a flyer and information about
Speaker 16: making that decision. At that time, we had no one
Speaker 16: actually choose to leave the island as a result of
Speaker 16: that information, so that gave us some I guess hope
Speaker 16: that people felt safe or had safe places to go
Speaker 16: on the island. There was one aged care facility with
Speaker 16: ten residents that was successfully relocated earlier in the week.
Speaker 1: Josh, good on you. This is a beautiful part of Australia.
Speaker 1: The website people need to be in across for you.
Speaker 16: Guys Redland dot Disaster dot QLD dot Gulf dot AU
Speaker 16: and it's got all of our information at our mapping
Speaker 16: on that page as well, and we encourage everyone to
Speaker 16: jump online and subscribe.
Speaker 1: Thank you mate. Once you go through Central bri when
Speaker 1: you're on your way south towards the GC the border,
Speaker 1: but of course you go through Logan and it's mere
Speaker 1: John Raven joins us. Now, what's the situation for preparation
Speaker 1: and how proud are you of the good folk who
Speaker 1: work for you on the council but also live in
Speaker 1: Mighty Logan did a poll.
Speaker 17: It's so fantastic to see how our community is coming
Speaker 17: together and working to help each other. What I've been
Speaker 17: most proud of is that when we do sandbags, we
Speaker 17: just put sand out and get people to come and
Speaker 17: self serve. But I don't think anyone's actually had to
Speaker 17: load their own sandbag, especially our elderly and disabled residents.
Speaker 17: They're getting help from community members and we've pumped out
Speaker 17: over one hundred and eighty thousand sand bags in four days.
Speaker 17: That's two thy five hundred tons of sand.
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure we've.
Speaker 17: Taken just about every grain of sand off the Gold
Speaker 17: coast and put it in a sandbag. But we're not
Speaker 17: just helping people in Logan. I know residents from Redlands
Speaker 17: and from the Gold Coasts have come up as well,
Speaker 17: because we know during a disaster borders don't matter. People matter,
Speaker 17: and so we're just working to help everybody.
Speaker 1: All right, give me an idea about how many people
Speaker 1: work for the council and what types of jobs they
Speaker 1: may traditionally do, but in times like this they end
Speaker 1: up doing something else.
Speaker 17: So we've got about two thousand staff at Logan City Council,
Speaker 17: and the ones that do the work during this preparation
Speaker 17: phase are the people that always do those jobs. So
Speaker 17: today we asked all of the guys that we'd stood
Speaker 17: down because we thought that plod Alfred was going to
Speaker 17: come across the border. We stood them down and said,
Speaker 17: you don't need to deliver any more sand. We bought
Speaker 17: those guys back in and asked them to do overtime
Speaker 17: so that they could pump out more sand for people
Speaker 17: today so they could have sandbags. But the real people
Speaker 17: who who are the heroes are the people who are
Speaker 17: working twenty four to seven in our local disaster coordination center.
Speaker 17: They come from all over the council. You've got people
Speaker 17: who might be parks designers, engineers, You've got people who
Speaker 17: specialize in disaster or in customer service, and they volunteer
Speaker 17: to come in and do this extra work because they
Speaker 17: want to make sure the community is kept safe.
Speaker 1: Good on your John. The website. People need to have
Speaker 1: a look at.
Speaker 17: All of our information is on disaster dot logan dot
Speaker 17: curld do a. You can check out flood maps. You
Speaker 17: can see our flood cameras and everything else that you'll
Speaker 17: need over the coming days.
Speaker 1: Good stuff. My spiritual homeland, the Gold Coast, I know
Speaker 1: it like the back of my hand, and I look
Speaker 1: forward to it being a big part of my future.
Speaker 1: But right now, let's talk about the next couple of days.
Speaker 1: The acting mayor is Donna Gates, and she joins us. Now, Donna,
Speaker 1: the Gold Coast. It's got plenty of complications where you've
Speaker 1: got everything from basically sort of the Runaway Bay all
Speaker 1: the way down. You've also got in all of those
Speaker 1: different canals. What is different about the way the Gold
Speaker 1: Coast has to prepare for something like this tropical cyclone.
Speaker 18: We've had a great concern, Paul about the high rise
Speaker 18: accommodation right along our coastline. So it's been a massive
Speaker 18: task to try and encourage everyone to take everything from
Speaker 18: their balconies inside their units because of course the risk
Speaker 18: of loose goods becoming projectiles. So that's been a challenge,
Speaker 18: but I think we've got there. We've had wonderful support
Speaker 18: from the police and the sees who have been door
Speaker 18: knocking consistently. Energex has been a great support. We had
Speaker 18: two thy nine hundred and nine homes without power today
Speaker 18: and that was mostly in our hinterland area where trees
Speaker 18: had fallen across power lines. So there has been briefings
Speaker 18: from our council daily with the most up to date information.
Speaker 18: I see you had the premiere on and the Premier
Speaker 18: has been magnificent. He's had briefings for us, including all
Speaker 18: of local government, twice daily with the very latest of information.
Speaker 18: So at four point fifteen today we found out that
Speaker 18: the cyl cyclone may drop to a category one as
Speaker 18: it reaches the coastline. I don't think that's going to
Speaker 18: make a material difference to the amount of water that
Speaker 18: we receive, but it's great to have the latest information.
Speaker 1: All right your website.
Speaker 18: We like people to Google Dashboard Gold Coast that will
Speaker 18: take them directly to the link, and there's a big
Speaker 18: blue tab that they can click on to get to
Speaker 18: the flood modeling, and there's various flood models that give
Speaker 18: them the worst case scenario and the likely scenario.
Speaker 1: All right, good on your donna. Let's cross the border
Speaker 1: to liz More. Steve Creig is there, Lord Mayor, and mate,
Speaker 1: I know things are particularly tough for you personally and
Speaker 1: for many people in that community, because you're already being
Speaker 1: told it's time to go.
Speaker 19: A little evacuation center as we speak. We've got to
Speaker 19: ask to leave at about six o'clock tonight. So we
Speaker 19: made our way back up to the home that we
Speaker 19: spent ten months after the twenty twenty two disaster. So
Speaker 19: I f I'm a little bit flatter, a little bit look,
Speaker 19: a little bit tired, and it's been a big day.
Speaker 1: I understand. Mate. Look, I'm just gonna can we just
Speaker 1: fix his audio if I can, I'll just pat for
Speaker 1: a couple of seconds and we'll double check on Steve's
Speaker 1: audio here, because I do want to give him a
Speaker 1: chance to further explain the situation in the Northern Rivers.
Speaker 1: The premiere Chris Mins is currently in that area. We know,
Speaker 1: as we spoke with the Balonimir last night, that there
Speaker 1: are plenty of people who were in very temporary accommodation.
Speaker 1: That's accommodation that's not going to be able to take
Speaker 1: some of the winds. There's plenty of people who still
Speaker 1: have not even fully rebuilt when it comes to the floods.
Speaker 1: I don't know if we've still got Steve, but I'll
Speaker 1: try one more time here. In fact, don't forget that
Speaker 1: Queensland website, which of course is a disaster dot QLD
Speaker 1: dot gov dot Au, disaster dot QLD dot gov dot AU.
Speaker 1: All right, I'm going to throw caution to the wind
Speaker 1: and see if we've got Steve one more time. So Steve,
Speaker 1: how sorry we've lost him again? Okay, all right, we
Speaker 1: will pick it up in a moment of two time
Speaker 1: where we will get more information from Brisbane. If we
Speaker 1: can get Steve back, I would like to have a
Speaker 1: chat to him more in a moment. Here we are
Speaker 1: as you can see, the wind is starting to pick up,
Speaker 1: rains starting to pick up, but then it may well
Speaker 1: fall away in just a couple of minutes time. But
Speaker 1: the reality is that the tropical cyclone is coming to
Speaker 1: southeast Queensland and the northern parts of New South Wales
Speaker 1: more in a second. Our rolling coverage, of course, will
Speaker 1: be all day tomorrow, we'll be across it tomorrow night
Speaker 1: and of course all weekend here on Sky News. He's
Speaker 1: been so kind to us, so I wanted to make
Speaker 1: sure that we fix the connection and again talk to
Speaker 1: him about the situation where mate, you guys have gone
Speaker 1: through so much and now the idea that you as
Speaker 1: it's champion representative is back where you were a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago. I don't know how you put one
Speaker 1: foot in front of the other, but you guys will
Speaker 1: find a way.
Speaker 19: The quote one of the great movies Poor I'm a
Speaker 19: donkey on the on the edge from It's really bloody
Speaker 19: tough to be honest with you and to think on
Speaker 19: Saturday we held a big fundraising event. I'm wearing their
Speaker 19: shirt that you know you do a fitness challenge to
Speaker 19: get a free T shirt. But Saturday you couldn't have
Speaker 19: got better conditions. Thursday night we've evacuated a city. It's
Speaker 19: just unbelievable what our residents go through. And couldn't be
Speaker 19: prouder of the toughness of our town. But how much
Speaker 19: more can we take?
Speaker 1: Bloody Steve, We love you mate, We'll talk again tomorrow.
Speaker 1: All the best to you and the community. I want
Speaker 1: to make sure that you heard that message loud and clear.
Speaker 1: Chris Jones is the editor of the Courier Mail. They
Speaker 1: are an absolute go to source. They got the latest data, photos, stories. Chris.
Speaker 1: I've been deeply impressed by what the role out is
Speaker 1: and how it compares to other states. As a person
Speaker 1: who's well and truly of this place knows it all.
Speaker 1: Is the system holding up? Are the complaints? Give me
Speaker 1: an idea? Am I this with a level of rose
Speaker 1: colored glasses? All these queens ain't actually stepping up to
Speaker 1: the moment.
Speaker 20: Absolutely, Paul, It's been so good to see everyone listening
Speaker 20: to the advice and helping their neighbors as well. It's
Speaker 20: been a weird day in Brisbane, particularly down on the coast. Obviously,
Speaker 20: it's been shocking and to feel sad for those people
Speaker 20: in northern New South Wales who have already copped I
Speaker 20: think what's coming our way, but been a strange day
Speaker 20: to day, so I'm a little bit concerned that people
Speaker 20: might get a little bit complacent. This thing is still
Speaker 20: coming for us. And while today in Brisbane, as you
Speaker 20: well know you're standing there at Recliff, it's only just
Speaker 20: started to rain, the wind's been down, it hasn't really
Speaker 20: been whipping up. We're going to wake up tomorrow and
Speaker 20: this thing's going to be bearing down on us. We're
Speaker 20: going to have two three days of pretty intense weather
Speaker 20: and hopefully everyone just sticks to the plans days at home,
Speaker 20: does the right thing, and do not fall into a
Speaker 20: sense of complacency after today's pause, as Alfred stayed out
Speaker 20: there and sort of thumbed its nose at us.
Speaker 1: Paul. Also, what I have found amazing about today was
Speaker 1: how people took the message right. I've mentioned before, I
Speaker 1: got family on the Sunny Coast, mates here in Redcliffe
Speaker 1: and of course all over Brizzy Goldie, all the rest
Speaker 1: of it. Right, people took the message. They stayed at home.
Speaker 1: They'll do so again. It really helped that they shut
Speaker 1: the schools. But you're so right, which is okay. Just
Speaker 1: because today was okay, it doesn't mean tomorrow's going to
Speaker 1: be okay. No doubt, your reporters, your photographers have been
Speaker 1: able to capture many wonderful acts of kindness, even when
Speaker 1: I was just at the entertainment center before watching people
Speaker 1: filling sandbags so they can bring them back to their neighbors.
Speaker 1: What's some of the stuff that stood out to you
Speaker 1: about people helping either a stranger or the person who
Speaker 1: lives next door.
Speaker 20: Beautiful stories, aren't they They're just so nice. It brings
Speaker 20: out the best in people. And I think that's one
Speaker 20: of the great things about times like this that really,
Speaker 20: you know, it really unite is it gives us an
Speaker 20: excuse to talk to our neighbor or to help our neighbor.
Speaker 20: It's been really lovely, you know, just wandering around and
Speaker 20: you can see that people are It brings you know,
Speaker 20: you're all going through the same thing, you're all preparing,
Speaker 20: and it's been lovely to hear people offering to you know,
Speaker 20: send the husband around to you clean out the whatever
Speaker 20: the gutters, or move the furniture inside of for someone
Speaker 20: who lives by themselves, or you know, just doing the
Speaker 20: right thing. It's been wonderful to see Paul. We always
Speaker 20: do band together, and it's great to see it beforehand,
Speaker 20: and we're going to have to see it again in
Speaker 20: a few days time. Because I've just looked at where
Speaker 20: that you know, where that weather's going, and we are
Speaker 20: in for an absolute drenching hopefully fingers crossed.
Speaker 7: Paul.
Speaker 20: The wind is not going to be as bad.
Speaker 1: As we thought.
Speaker 20: When it crosses, it's still going to be a cyclone,
Speaker 20: but let's hope it's a one, not a two or
Speaker 20: even a three, which was on the cards yesterday, where
Speaker 20: the winds will still be extreme, but hopefully not as
Speaker 20: bad and not as damaging.
Speaker 1: But gee, this some rain and at Paul, and.
Speaker 20: We're going to have to band together again as we
Speaker 20: have many times in the southeast. That is at least
Speaker 20: one thing. We might not be used to cyclones, but
Speaker 20: we are used to flooding rains in summer tragically. And
Speaker 20: I think there's a heck of a lot more to come, Paul.
Speaker 20: So everyone just needs to stick together, keep checking on
Speaker 20: your neighbors, keep doing the right thing. It's a really
Speaker 20: nice time to see the community pool together as you've
Speaker 20: seen today, Paul.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely. I don't know if we're allowed to say it,
Speaker 1: but anyway, we're all Queenslanders for the next few days.
Speaker 1: And you know how much I love this state, and
Speaker 1: I know how much you do as well, and serving
Speaker 1: it via the Courier Marl Mate, it is spectacular the
Speaker 1: coverage that you and the team are put together. Well done, mate.
Speaker 1: We'll talk again over the next couple of days. Good
Speaker 1: on you, Chris. Thanks Paul, he's a good man. Chris
Speaker 1: Jones there running the Courier mail. And of course don't
Speaker 1: forget all of these people that we're talking to have
Speaker 1: their own lives, that they've got, their own families, their
Speaker 1: own houses that they need to be sand banking, their
Speaker 1: own communities that they're worried about, and the fact that
Speaker 1: they are able to chug on for the wider communities,
Speaker 1: be they volunteers, the people who are the counselors, the
Speaker 1: police officers, all of that stuff. It really really matters.
Speaker 1: As I said, to see this with my own eyes
Speaker 1: is just a little bit frightening about where it might
Speaker 1: go in the next couple of days. The fingers crossed
Speaker 1: is that, as Chris says, it's about rain, it's not
Speaker 1: about wind. But once you start to throw these things together,
Speaker 1: as the premiere said, then you could be dealing with
Speaker 1: four things at once. Now, let me tell you what
Speaker 1: the plan is in terms of what I'm going to
Speaker 1: be doing here on Sky News in the next couple
Speaker 1: of days. We'll have lots of conversation on the Telly
Speaker 1: Special shows and all the rest of it. Now, can
Speaker 1: I also make it very clear that while tonight we
Speaker 1: are standing in the wind and the rain, we're not
Speaker 1: going to be doing anything stupid and making gifts of ourselves.
Speaker 1: We're going to try to keep ourselves as safe as possible,
Speaker 1: which I definitely hope everyone does here in Southeast Queensland.
Speaker 1: But of course, the whole purpose of this show, as
Speaker 1: you know, is a show that celebrates our country, celebrates
Speaker 1: it at its best, and is here when it is
Speaker 1: at its worst and our people are going through its worst.
Speaker 1: So if you're a paid emergency service person, a volunteer,
Speaker 1: or somebody who is just taking care of somebody you know,
Speaker 1: thank you a big couple of days ahead, Thanks so
Speaker 1: much for watching tonight. We'll see you again tomorrow here
Speaker 1: for a special edition of Paul Murray Life