Speaker 1: Live from Queensland. This is Paul Murray Lyte Today, Australia.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Gold Coast where right now people know
Speaker 1: that just less than one hundred kilometers from where I'm
Speaker 1: standing right now, Tropical Cyclone Alfred is about to hit
Speaker 1: full coverage in the next hour. In this special Friday
Speaker 1: night edition of Paul Murray Live, will be joined by
Speaker 1: guests around the region and reporters who are just to
Speaker 1: the north and south of where I am right now.
Speaker 1: To those gentlemen in a moment or two time, as
Speaker 1: I say, from where I'm standing right now, which is
Speaker 1: Broadbeach on the Gold Coast, cool and gatter that way,
Speaker 1: surface paradise that way Brisbane about ninety minutes up the
Speaker 1: road seventy five kilometers out to see a little further
Speaker 1: north towards Brisbane from where I am right now is
Speaker 1: where tropical Cyclone Alfred is. That is about one hundred
Speaker 1: kilometers away from Brisbane. Now the eye of this this
Speaker 1: thing is expected to arrive in Redcliffe tomorrow morning. The
Speaker 1: Morton Bay and the Morton Bay Islands are going to
Speaker 1: be the first in its destructive power. That said, as
Speaker 1: you can see the colors all the way up all
Speaker 1: the way down are versions of rain. It's versions of wind.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about rain from the Sunny coast all the
Speaker 1: way down to the rivers of New South Wales, where
Speaker 1: already there is a significant amount of rain, significant amount
Speaker 1: of flooding, and communities have been cut off. Now as
Speaker 1: we speak, the expectations are that there is going to
Speaker 1: be some problems with the northern rivers of New South Wales,
Speaker 1: which brings us to two bits of breaking news before
Speaker 1: we get to our reporters here on the Gold Coast,
Speaker 1: which is that authorities do not know where at least
Speaker 1: one person is, and the expectations is that by the
Speaker 1: time the sun comes up we may not ever know
Speaker 1: where this person is. A four wheel drive when into
Speaker 1: the water at about two thirty this afternoon, about twenty
Speaker 1: three kilometers northeast of Dorigo, the mail driver was able
Speaker 1: to get out of the car and hold onto a tree,
Speaker 1: but then he was pulled into the water. He has
Speaker 1: not been seen since he was holding onto the tree
Speaker 1: branch that was about thirty meters from the riverbank, and
Speaker 1: the rivers had been rising all afternoon. We of course
Speaker 1: hope that there is a better end to this. We
Speaker 1: hope that something will break during this hour and certainly
Speaker 1: if there'll be a tough night, but a way for
Speaker 1: that person to survive, but the worst possible start to
Speaker 1: what is going to be a wild twenty four hours
Speaker 1: in this part of Australia. Now we are being viewed
Speaker 1: right now on Sky News Regional in much of northern
Speaker 1: New South Wales and in Queensland of course on the
Speaker 1: home plate of Voxtel, watched on flash and on the
Speaker 1: Sky News app. A reminder that the point of this
Speaker 1: is to try to give information and understanding about what
Speaker 1: it's like to be in the middle of it. We
Speaker 1: know that there are a lot of people watching. I've
Speaker 1: got a text message before from people who are watching
Speaker 1: the Sky News coverage on everything from their phones, their tablets,
Speaker 1: obviously sitting at home, and even people who are apparently
Speaker 1: way beyond and on the other side of this tropical
Speaker 1: cyclone out on cruise ships. So the whole point is
Speaker 1: to try and give you a picture of what's going on,
Speaker 1: with an understanding that from now until the sun rises
Speaker 1: tomorrow it's going to get pretty wild. The other piece
Speaker 1: of information, politically speaking, is that the Prime Minister has
Speaker 1: now formally announced he will not be calling an election
Speaker 1: this weekend, which means there will not be a federal
Speaker 1: election in the month of April, no campaigning officially at
Speaker 1: least in the month of March. That means in about
Speaker 1: three weeks time we will be getting a federal budget
Speaker 1: and then it will be going off to the Governor
Speaker 1: General for a May election that'll be taking place at
Speaker 1: either the very end of March or the very early
Speaker 1: part of April. So the Prime Minister's focus is exactly
Speaker 1: the same as ours, which is on these events right now. Yes,
Speaker 1: normal politics will resume, but right now, tonight, this moment,
Speaker 1: it is about making sure that as many people make
Speaker 1: it through the night as possible. All right, Jonathan Lee
Speaker 1: joins us right now. He's a little further south of
Speaker 1: where I am right now. How's the night rolling in?
Speaker 1: As the wind has just been relentless, hasn't it been
Speaker 1: made Over the past few hours, the rain weathered as well.
Speaker 2: Poor good evening to you and good evening to those
Speaker 2: at home. It's gone from eerie to haunting. Many people
Speaker 2: have retreated indoors, and we've certainly done the same. There
Speaker 2: werepocats of the day today which were almost idyllic blue skies.
Speaker 2: People on the Gold Coast out exercising, but that's.
Speaker 1: Certainly not the case. Now. You get the.
Speaker 2: Feeling that this category two cyclone is really starting to
Speaker 2: stamp its mark on the Gold Coast. We were told
Speaker 2: there was between forty and fifty meals on the Gold
Speaker 2: Coast over the last twenty four hours into the hinterland,
Speaker 2: and also the Scenic Rim that was up around two
Speaker 2: hundred meals. That they've certainly felt.
Speaker 3: The worst of it.
Speaker 2: The wind gusts in excess of perhaps one hundred and
Speaker 2: twenty kilometers an hour, they're expected to get up to
Speaker 2: one hundred and fifty to one hundred and fifty five.
Speaker 2: You get the feeling now that that's certainly gone past
Speaker 2: the one hundred and twenty kilometer an hour mark.
Speaker 1: We've come inside.
Speaker 2: We've got no power here on the Gold Coast Burley
Speaker 2: at the moment. Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of others
Speaker 2: have also.
Speaker 1: Lost their power.
Speaker 2: The significance of that is more than just not having
Speaker 2: power pull. It also goes to people not having telecommunications.
Speaker 2: It was explained today at the press conference given by
Speaker 2: the Premiere that the telecommunication stations can only last so
Speaker 2: long before their batteries eventually run out, and we've seen
Speaker 2: twenty six mobile base stations now.
Speaker 1: Lose their power.
Speaker 2: It goes from a Blinger, a Binaborough, Burly Waters cool
Speaker 2: and Gather, o'riley's Parkwood Bundle, Reedy Creek, Mudriy Bar, corumbin Springbrook,
Speaker 2: you name it. There's plenty of people without power tonight,
Speaker 2: and they also don't have any phone signal either, so
Speaker 2: it's going to be an eerie twenty four to forty
Speaker 2: eight hours for them. Concerningly, though, we also have more
Speaker 2: reports of people swimming in the ocean.
Speaker 1: Have a listen.
Speaker 4: We'd ask people where there's road closure signage, please stop
Speaker 4: stealing the sandbags. People are stealing the sandbags and the
Speaker 4: signs are blowing away. We've been repeating for days now
Speaker 4: that people should stay away from the beach, stay away
Speaker 4: from the sand, stay out of the water. We've had
Speaker 4: another two teenagers rescued by surf Life Saving Queensland at
Speaker 4: Southport just earlier today, and I understand from police that
Speaker 4: there are still about four kids in the water ignoring
Speaker 4: the warnings to get out. It's very very foolish, it's
Speaker 4: very very dangerous.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Paul.
Speaker 2: We're also told by police there was one incident of
Speaker 2: a glass window on the thirty thirty fourth floor of
Speaker 2: a skyscraper on the Gold Coast falling out today. The
Speaker 2: businesses here were doing it, particularly to some report it
Speaker 2: to me is being harder than COVID. There really is
Speaker 2: nobody around at the moment. We spoke to a number
Speaker 2: who've lost power and they've had to shut up. They
Speaker 2: don't know if it's going to be for hours, days
Speaker 2: or maybe even longer.
Speaker 5: Are you worried somewhere?
Speaker 1: Nervous here?
Speaker 6: And everything blackout from last night thirty yesterday everything blackout,
Speaker 6: so no pay, no power, no, no no power, chice.
Speaker 2: That's hard and bad business.
Speaker 6: Yes, very because everything inside, everything stuck still yesterday we open, yeah,
Speaker 6: but eight o'clock light gone it thirty between and then
Speaker 6: we shut everything.
Speaker 2: How much stock could be lost?
Speaker 6: Maybe I have like twenty cagy chickens, twenty chicken, twenty
Speaker 6: kilos of lamb, ten kilo of beef, so much, so much, so.
Speaker 7: Many of the tides and the swell was one of
Speaker 7: the biggest thing. That's why we have all the windows
Speaker 7: brought it up. But so far the tides have been okay,
Speaker 7: and now we're just waiting on really the wind and
Speaker 7: the rain.
Speaker 2: It's nervous game, isn't it.
Speaker 1: It is?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean especially being this close to the water
Speaker 7: and maybe two hundred clong in our winds humbling against
Speaker 7: the windows.
Speaker 2: So yeah, yeah, nervousness, Paul. Many people not knowing of
Speaker 2: this cyclone, Alfred will turn into their own Freddy Krueger.
Speaker 2: It will be a nervous night.
Speaker 1: Good stuff, John, Important about that. Telecommunications made it. Energex
Speaker 1: has just got in touch to say latest numbers forty
Speaker 1: nine thousand, which it's literally been breaking as we speak.
Speaker 1: It is all different parts in and around the city
Speaker 1: of the Gold Coast. Now, thank you for that. Let
Speaker 1: me explain partly what's happening here too, which is that, obviously,
Speaker 1: as the tropical cyclone is starting to move down, why
Speaker 1: are we on the Gold Coast because that's where all
Speaker 1: of this rain is going to start to kick in.
Speaker 1: Then it's going to start to I think the term
Speaker 1: pirouete for those that are into their ballet, is that
Speaker 1: it starts to turn and will make its way back north.
Speaker 1: So we're in a situation where most of the rain
Speaker 1: is to the south because of obviously the swirl of
Speaker 1: these things. That rain is what is pushing deep into
Speaker 1: the northern part of New South Wales. Harry Clarke right
Speaker 1: now is in Cleveland in Brisbane. What can you see, mate.
Speaker 3: Paul, Well, for the first time this week, I can
Speaker 3: say that we are truly starting to feel and experience
Speaker 3: cyclonic conditions. As you say, Alfred is about one hundred
Speaker 3: k's off the coast. I'm at Cleveland on Brisbane Bay
Speaker 3: side and where right in the firing line pretty much
Speaker 3: the Morton Bay Islands are the first localities that are
Speaker 3: going to start feeling the effects, and then it's going
Speaker 3: to continue to come inland and these areas such as
Speaker 3: Victoria Point, Cleveland where I am now, and further down
Speaker 3: to Redland Bay will start to cop it. The rain
Speaker 3: certainly started to come in just in the last hour
Speaker 3: or so, and we're getting some pretty big wing gus
Speaker 3: coming through where we are right now, which is on
Speaker 3: the canal residential areas of Cleveland. The people are prepared,
Speaker 3: that's what the authorities are saying. David Christoph fully commended
Speaker 3: the greatest Southeast Queensland community on the feedback he's getting
Speaker 3: that people have been heeding the advice and preparing their properties,
Speaker 3: but there was you've got to say, and including for
Speaker 3: news reporters, a bit of an element of frustration starting
Speaker 3: to kick in just how long this thing was taking
Speaker 3: to arrive upon us. Not just me, but everybody we've
Speaker 3: been talking to down on the waterfronts were saying, is
Speaker 3: this tropical cyclone actually going to come? Well, the answer
Speaker 3: has come here it is. People were out having a
Speaker 3: bit of a sticky beak at the lighthouse this afternoon,
Speaker 3: which is pretty much the easternmost point of the Bayside suburbs,
Speaker 3: and just getting one last look into some pretty angry
Speaker 3: open ocean waters there. But some big lines of cars
Speaker 3: streaming past. But everybody has started to go inside now
Speaker 3: as this weather's truly started to kick in.
Speaker 1: Good stuff. Thank you Harry, Thank you John O. We
Speaker 1: know you'll be part of our breaking news coverage which
Speaker 1: will go all night. Obviously when the sun comes up
Speaker 1: will be some of the worst effects. You will see
Speaker 1: all of that Live with Peter Stefanovic in the morning. Now.
Speaker 1: I mentioned that there's a lot happening in the New
Speaker 1: South Wales. For those that have been watching local television broadcasts.
Speaker 1: There very much is the Queensland version of what is happening,
Speaker 1: and there very much is the New South Wales version
Speaker 1: that's happening. Of course, being a national service and a
Speaker 1: person who's got a feat in both camps and a
Speaker 1: heart in both camps, it's important, yes, for us to
Speaker 1: talk about southeast Queensland. But that rain and there has
Speaker 1: been more than one hundred millilters which has been recorded
Speaker 1: at Lizmore alone, So imagine what is happening further up upstreams,
Speaker 1: further up into the giant areas that are there, moving
Speaker 1: through the valleys, moving through the cities. Well, our plan
Speaker 1: was to spend our day to day in Lizmore, but
Speaker 1: there was a pretty obvious reason, even when we thought
Speaker 1: the weather was okay, that we could only go so far.
Speaker 1: While Cyclone Alfred is not due to cross until the
Speaker 1: early hours of tomorrow morning, there's a real problem in
Speaker 1: northern New South Wales. This is the problem right now.
Speaker 1: Cities like Lizmore are about to be cut off because
Speaker 1: the rain that has been falling for many is now
Speaker 1: starting to flood into the Tweed River. On our way
Speaker 1: to this point, just a few minutes ago and a
Speaker 1: couple of corners around the bend. Smaller bridges they are
Speaker 1: now starting to be covered. Roads are being closed. People
Speaker 1: coming from the Gold Coast and tweed south down towards
Speaker 1: Byron are being told not to use things like the
Speaker 1: m one. They're already being diverted off to places like
Speaker 1: Kingscliff and the long and windy road to get to
Speaker 1: a place like this. One of the reasons as well,
Speaker 1: that bridges like the one I'm standing on right now,
Speaker 1: which are the best of the infrastructure in this part
Speaker 1: of northern New South Wales, are going to start to
Speaker 1: get flooded debris stuff that's been flowing down the river
Speaker 1: for a couple of days. This is where it's going
Speaker 1: to stop. As you can see, it creates its own
Speaker 1: little barrier, its own little rapids, and then that is
Speaker 1: only going to slowly but surely narrow the amount of
Speaker 1: opportunities for water to go under the bridge. It starts
Speaker 1: to push it up and over the bridge. And that's
Speaker 1: why there's real worry right now, not tomorrow morning, in
Speaker 1: northern New South Wales. This is what is guarding every
Speaker 1: nook and cranny and space under the doors in the
Speaker 1: main street of woolen bar in northern New South Wales.
Speaker 1: One of the reasons these places are closed right now
Speaker 1: is so the people who work in places like the
Speaker 1: local sushi bar, subway, Harvey Norman and everything else are
Speaker 1: able to be with their families now. The expectation, of course,
Speaker 1: is that the water may well end up being here,
Speaker 1: but extra layers going nice and high. As you can see,
Speaker 1: the final line of defense plastic. But this thing is
Speaker 1: as best protected as anyone could imagine.
Speaker 8: As a community in a woolenbar. We have been through
Speaker 8: so much and through floods and it's been horrific. But
Speaker 8: what is the saving grace for our beautiful community is
Speaker 8: coming together and helping each other. I was just doing
Speaker 8: the sandbags just down here, and we're all. One was
Speaker 8: holding the other, one was putting the sand in the
Speaker 8: other one was getting it and lifting it for me
Speaker 8: and putting in the car. And I think that's what
Speaker 8: how we get through these horrific events.
Speaker 1: Places that normally on a Friday afternoon you would be
Speaker 1: maybe enjoying one or two as we start our way
Speaker 1: towards a weekend. Now underwater, the tweed is rising fast
Speaker 1: as you can see the currents are worth talking about
Speaker 1: too here. Well, obviously the bulk of it is heating
Speaker 1: out to sea. There is this little whirlpool effect where
Speaker 1: water is being drawn back towards the banks of the
Speaker 1: river and then it creates this whirlpool effect, which obviously
Speaker 1: disturbs a few things. Some of the early structures, like
Speaker 1: the pads to wharves or those areas where picnic people
Speaker 1: would be starting to fail.
Speaker 9: It's pretty scary.
Speaker 10: We were here in the twenty two flood, so we've
Speaker 10: seen it all before and a little bit worried about
Speaker 10: what's going to happen again.
Speaker 1: You've got your little ones here as well, who are
Speaker 1: awesome and doing their bit on a Friday. What's it
Speaker 1: like at telling them what to expect without trying to
Speaker 1: freak them out. Yeah, we've had that chat.
Speaker 11: We had that chat this morning. Like I said, these
Speaker 11: guys went through the twenty two flood and we got
Speaker 11: evacuated right at the peak.
Speaker 7: From the living level.
Speaker 1: Is your house up high enough, right, mummy taking care
Speaker 1: of you?
Speaker 12: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Excellent? All right? Tim? The Jockey Club, how do you
Speaker 1: handle what is coming to tweet? Probably a little bit
Speaker 1: different this time, Paul.
Speaker 10: We obviously it's a two prong threat this time with
Speaker 10: wind and water. We're decimating twenty two without enough notice.
Speaker 10: But we're quite thankful for the Emergency Services and the
Speaker 10: Bureau this time that we've got a sufficient notice and
Speaker 10: we've been able to prepare adequately, we hope.
Speaker 1: So obviously there'll be no meetings this weekend. But what
Speaker 1: infrastructure have you had to either strap down put away
Speaker 1: and how many people have been doing so?
Speaker 10: We've had our track staff team working on that as
Speaker 10: approximately five to six people. Obviously, the trainers that use
Speaker 10: the facility each morning for training of done it from
Speaker 10: endous job getting horses to safer ground or safer facilities
Speaker 10: within their precincts as well. And then we've obviously lifted
Speaker 10: all our maintenance equipment for the machinery for the upkeeps
Speaker 10: of the tracks and grounds and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: Let's stay with the Northern Rivers right there. Shirrilee Matthews
Speaker 1: is a person who we spoke to when we were
Speaker 1: in liz More just three years ago. It's extraordinary how
Speaker 1: so much change and then we're right back to where
Speaker 1: things have been. She's a business owner and she joins us. Now, surely,
Speaker 1: whereabouts are you tonight. Have you tried to get away
Speaker 1: to higher ground when it comes to Lismore.
Speaker 5: Oh, yeah, I'm at our home in Gane Alabas, so
Speaker 5: we're up on the hill out of danger.
Speaker 1: So give me an idea about what this is like
Speaker 1: to face yet again, and not after ten years, not
Speaker 1: after twenty years, but just in a couple of years.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's pretty horrible. Hard to take actually, all like
Speaker 5: three years on. We all thought that it was a
Speaker 5: one in one hundred year flood three years ago, but
Speaker 5: clearly that's not the case. So the whole town is
Speaker 5: very on edge. You're very anxious. Grateful though that we've
Speaker 5: had so much time this time to prepare. Last time,
Speaker 5: obviously there was no time, so everybody in town was affected.
Speaker 5: This time, we started our pack up on Tuesdays and
Speaker 5: finished up Wednesday night and close the doors and now
Speaker 5: hope for the best. So we're able to lift a
Speaker 5: bit of what we can.
Speaker 1: This time.
Speaker 5: Is hard in our industry to get everything out of
Speaker 5: flood level, but we've done what we can and now
Speaker 5: just wait and wait longer than we thought, but keep
Speaker 5: waiting and hope for the best.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it has been a strange experience. Hasn't it, Because
Speaker 1: we've seen people a little further north than Brisbane saying, hey,
Speaker 1: gess nothing's going on here again. There's that sort of
Speaker 1: depending on whether you watch the Brisbane based news or
Speaker 1: the news of based news about where the focus is.
Speaker 1: But the reality for the Northern Rivers is that while
Speaker 1: the worst may still be to come, the trouble's been
Speaker 1: there for much of the past few days. Obviously, we've
Speaker 1: spoken to the mayor, Steve Creek quite a few times
Speaker 1: on air, and he's a bloke who himself has had
Speaker 1: to go back to where he was, where he was
Speaker 1: with people for the best part of ten months. How
Speaker 1: does the family get through this? I know that you're
Speaker 1: a person and being in small business there's only one
Speaker 1: thing you do which has put one foot in front
Speaker 1: of the other. But families, mates, other people and their kids.
Speaker 1: What conversations have you been having either texts, what's app
Speaker 1: or face to face the past couple of days.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's definitely hard. We've got a lot of our
Speaker 5: friends are in business themselves in Lismore and I'm grown
Speaker 5: born and bred and lizmore so I know a lot
Speaker 5: of people and everyone is just sort of really good
Speaker 5: at everyone supporting each other, so everyone is really banding together,
Speaker 5: checking in on each other constantly, which is what a
Speaker 5: community does. It's hard for our children, like we've got
Speaker 5: two teenage girls and obviously went through twenty twenty two
Speaker 5: and lost their school and the whole world kind of change.
Speaker 5: So obviously they are very apprehensive again and concerned at
Speaker 5: what's going to become of their town, because unfortunately, the
Speaker 5: reality is if this is as bad as what is forecast,
Speaker 5: then we're not sure what the future of Lisma will
Speaker 5: be because it's just you know, how much how many
Speaker 5: more times can people start to rebuild and keep having hope.
Speaker 1: It's just difficult, Yeah, yeah, I mean the kids, that's
Speaker 1: the thing. For us that have been around a while,
Speaker 1: obviously it's the first time for many of us in
Speaker 1: living memory of something as serious as this. But of
Speaker 1: course for you it is the situation of a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago, a couple of years before that COVID.
Speaker 1: If there are kids that are again there've been teenagers
Speaker 1: or younger, this is their normal. It shouldn't be their normal,
Speaker 1: but alas it is. Right now, all right, give us
Speaker 1: an idea about the next couple of days are you
Speaker 1: able to hunker down or will you know once the
Speaker 1: wind moves down while you start looking around tomorrow.
Speaker 5: So that would just really depend on what the rainfall
Speaker 5: does overnight. So obviously, if the expected river heights do
Speaker 5: come in, it does go over the levee, we won't
Speaker 5: be able to get to our business for probably two
Speaker 5: to three days because our business is in South Lismore,
Speaker 5: and so we get cut off, so we won't know
Speaker 5: what damage has occurred or what's happened for probably a
Speaker 5: few days after the height of the flood, so we
Speaker 5: could be talking another three or four days before we
Speaker 5: can even get there. Last time, my husband stayed at
Speaker 5: our business and became part of the Tinney Army, and
Speaker 5: you know, he tried to protect what he could. This
Speaker 5: time it was just we need to get out. It's
Speaker 5: not worth the danger this time. So he's home here
Speaker 5: too and we just have to hope and wait and
Speaker 5: see what happens.
Speaker 1: All right, cheerily, good on you, all the best for
Speaker 1: the next couple of days. You've got everyone around the country,
Speaker 1: be they very close or all the way on the
Speaker 1: other side in Western Australia on your side. All the
Speaker 1: best for the next few days and again to Steve
Speaker 1: and everyone who is in that local government area will
Speaker 1: check in with them again as the weekend rolls on.
Speaker 1: Now there are seven rivers which currently have flood warnings
Speaker 1: that are connected to them. There is one in Queensland
Speaker 1: that is the Logan River, but there is in New
Speaker 1: South Wales the Tweed River, the Wilson's River, the Richmond River,
Speaker 1: the Bellingen River, as well as the Brunswick, Nambucka and
Speaker 1: Borahra rivers. Now, if you know and you live in
Speaker 1: those areas, you know what's on your way. If you've visited.
Speaker 1: Certainly nambuckaheads plenty of family holidays at Vala Beach just
Speaker 1: up the road. I know it very well. We've done
Speaker 1: plenty of our towns around these regions and the reason
Speaker 1: we're on tonight this Friday night, is because you have
Speaker 1: been so kind to us. So we want to give
Speaker 1: you the very latest information which takes us back to
Speaker 1: Queensland Brisbane, specifically the Deputy Premier there is Jared Blinde.
Speaker 1: He joins us from the Sky newsroom in Brisbane. Jared,
Speaker 1: we've seen excellent information coming from yourself and the Premiere.
Speaker 1: Give us the latest information you have for people watching
Speaker 1: us as they might be about to go to bed
Speaker 1: and have a pretty restless night's sleep.
Speaker 12: Well, thanks pauland thank you for hosting from Queensland. We
Speaker 12: know you love Queensland. Look, it's going to be a
Speaker 12: pretty interesting twenty four hours. I think, as you've indicated earlier,
Speaker 12: a lot of Queensland as would say how long has
Speaker 12: this taken.
Speaker 1: For Cycle on Alfred to get here?
Speaker 12: We've predominantly was meant to arrive here yesterday, but all
Speaker 12: indications now indicate that it will hit the Morton Bay
Speaker 12: Islands tomorrow morning and then the mainland at about midday tomorrow,
Speaker 12: so I think we've done as much preparation as we
Speaker 12: possibly can across southeast Queensland. Our biggest issue now is
Speaker 12: obviously looking the rain that will come with that and
Speaker 12: the flood risks to the river system, and that's where
Speaker 12: the risk will be in the future. The winds are
Speaker 12: obviously strong, particularly the Gold Coast, whereas at the Sunshine
Speaker 12: Coast you're not seeing the effects because the southern end
Speaker 12: of the tropical cycle on Alfred is a bigger impact
Speaker 12: than the northern end. So it's quite different, I think
Speaker 12: odd because it's so unpredictable in its nature tropical cyclones,
Speaker 12: and this one certainly has. Bull A night ago we
Speaker 12: saw it head east again, then it started heading west,
Speaker 12: so it's been pretty unpredictable.
Speaker 1: Well, and again the variables that depending on where you
Speaker 1: are on the map. There literally was a rainbow in
Speaker 1: Brisbane that was around this afternoon, But of course Redcliffe,
Speaker 1: which is all part of that, that's going to be
Speaker 1: where the eye goes over in the morning. The power
Speaker 1: outages is what I want to focus on as well here.
Speaker 1: Energex is the main people that will be involved in
Speaker 1: all of that. Obviously, they have to keep their crew safe,
Speaker 1: so they're not going to be doing very much through
Speaker 1: the night. But the idea that more than a football
Speaker 1: stadium's worth of people have lost power, well, yes, there's
Speaker 1: plenty of wind and rain around, but before this thing
Speaker 1: really ramps up has to be a concern, isn't it.
Speaker 12: It is, Paul, and I can tell you and your
Speaker 12: listeners now or your viewers that we've actually over sixty
Speaker 12: thousand residents in southeast Queensland have lost power and so
Speaker 12: you've already you know, the cyclone hasn't crossed the shore yet,
Speaker 12: we've already had sixty thous people without power, but we
Speaker 12: knew that there would be many without power. So we've
Speaker 12: got twelve hundred electricity workers ready on standby, ready to go.
Speaker 12: And I think because the one advantage that this has
Speaker 12: been such a slow moving tropical cyclone, it has allowed
Speaker 12: us to look at the islands, particularly place generators, put
Speaker 12: assets across, look at plans in place for tomorrow. But
Speaker 12: I think the next twenty four hours is going to
Speaker 12: be key to what happens if it intensifies overnight, if
Speaker 12: it drops off, but there'll still be what we've been
Speaker 12: told by Bomb is a heck of a lot of
Speaker 12: rain and that will put obviously pressure pall on the
Speaker 12: river systems and with localized flooding possibly that's our biggest
Speaker 12: concern at the moment, and that the concern of BOMB.
Speaker 1: The federal government has already deployed members of the Defense Force.
Speaker 1: They'll be there in northern New South Wales. What share
Speaker 1: is being deployed in and around southeast Queensland.
Speaker 12: Well, we've certainly been in constant contact with the federal government.
Speaker 12: The MIS has been up here and attending the state
Speaker 12: disaster coordinator meetings. We have to a day I started
Speaker 12: on the Sunshine Coast this morning. This afternoon I was
Speaker 12: with the Premier obviously updating Queenslanders from the State Disaster
Speaker 12: Coordination Center with the federal minister as well. There's aircraft
Speaker 12: support which has been one is ready to go at Bunderberg,
Speaker 12: so that support has been given and promised by the
Speaker 12: federal government and all is being assessed at the moment
Speaker 12: what support we're going to need. The issue I deal
Speaker 12: with on a daily basis for the last few days
Speaker 12: ball is the logistics and freight and operations and getting
Speaker 12: supermarkets stocked with food and groceries. That's been a big
Speaker 12: challenge and I think we're going to see over the
Speaker 12: next twenty four hours all the supermarkets close, which will
Speaker 12: put challenges for people needing stock. But I think again,
Speaker 12: all we've been trying to do, the Premier and I
Speaker 12: and the ministers is keep everyone updated. As soon as
Speaker 12: we've been receiving the information we've given it to Queenslanders.
Speaker 12: Bomb has been updating everyone every hour. The Premier has
Speaker 12: made sure that all the local government mayors that are
Speaker 12: impacted by tropical cycle and Alfred are in the room
Speaker 12: twice meeting daily and anything the mayors have been requesting.
Speaker 12: We certainly have been supporting them and particularly getting them
Speaker 12: to put the flood mapping on their websites and the
Speaker 12: disaster hub, so everyone in those areas can see that
Speaker 12: the different levels of rain and whether they whether their
Speaker 12: properties would be impacted or not. So I think in
Speaker 12: terms of preparation, we are as prepared as we can be,
Speaker 12: despite not knowing the ramifications of what's going to happen tomorrow,
Speaker 12: deciding on what the tropical cycle on Alfred decides to
Speaker 12: do overnight.
Speaker 1: Good stuff. Thank you so much, Deputy Premier Jared Blage.
Speaker 1: I really do appreciate it. Of course, all the best
Speaker 1: to the Premier and all of the team. The information
Speaker 1: has been extraordinary. Again, as somebody who loves Queensland, but
Speaker 1: as a visitor, the amount of information that comes at
Speaker 1: you is pretty impressive. They've got a website which you
Speaker 1: should have a look at, which is disaster dot q
Speaker 1: dot gov dot Au or disaster dot QLD dot gov
Speaker 1: dot AU. When you're on that website, you're able to
Speaker 1: go right into your local government area, a message board
Speaker 1: comes up, You're able to see what suburbs are gonna
Speaker 1: have flood mapping. You can check that out. I literally
Speaker 1: was having a look where I've got my brother up
Speaker 1: on the Sunny coast, shout out to you, Jason Nicky
Speaker 1: and the girls, and just having a look at their suburb,
Speaker 1: their streets. What's the flooding map. You're able to see
Speaker 1: that picture a little further down, you know, mates in
Speaker 1: and around budrom having a look at what's happening there.
Speaker 1: Friends that are happening just a little further up the
Speaker 1: hill here on the Gold Coast where they are currently
Speaker 1: cut off. They're cut off because of fallen trees. So
Speaker 1: much information now again, there's a lot of people who've
Speaker 1: been saying geez, wall to wall for a week. So
Speaker 1: much information, so many briefings. Well, the point is you
Speaker 1: want to get the message to four million people as
Speaker 1: much as possible, as frequently as possible. There are the
Speaker 1: people like yourself who lean forward, watch every little bit
Speaker 1: of detail. There are those who don't. But thankfully the
Speaker 1: message has gone as far as radio can take it,
Speaker 1: as deep as the internet, and live right now on
Speaker 1: your television. In a moment or two's time, more information
Speaker 1: from Sky News Weather quick break back with more and
Speaker 1: believe it or not, there was something crazy that was
Speaker 1: happening that we'll give you a small smile before a
Speaker 1: worried night here in the southeast, just gone eight point
Speaker 1: thirty Here in Queensland. I've had plenty of wild nights
Speaker 1: on the Gold Coast, but nothing like this. Thank you
Speaker 1: for watching us as we are bringing you the early
Speaker 1: moments of tropical Cyclone Alfred blowing a gale, dumping an
Speaker 1: awful lot of rain, particularly a little further south in
Speaker 1: Cooling Gata where I am right now in Broadbeach. There
Speaker 1: are these strange little stops and starts. But when it hits,
Speaker 1: it is hitting hard. It only gets harder from here
Speaker 1: in a moment, another Queensland perspective, and again, as I
Speaker 1: said before, fun to see what kids do when they've
Speaker 1: got the day off school. They're not putting anyone in danger.
Speaker 1: Something fun in a moment or two time. But can
Speaker 1: I explain again around this more than sixty thousand homes
Speaker 1: which have now lost their power, the vast majority down
Speaker 1: here on the Gold Coast. One of the reasons that
Speaker 1: took place was because there was a giant tree which
Speaker 1: fell on a substation that knocked things out. So remember
Speaker 1: this as part of the whole picture, isn't it. It's
Speaker 1: not just about how hard the wind is, it's what
Speaker 1: it breaks. It's not just how heavy the rain is,
Speaker 1: it's what it loosens. That, of course means why there's
Speaker 1: particular worry about a tree branch falling off a couple
Speaker 1: of doors down and coming into your house. There's plenty
Speaker 1: of examples and lots of pictures that are around today.
Speaker 1: Are the houses that have already been flattened. Certainly, the
Speaker 1: beach erosion is pretty obvious. That's been taking place here
Speaker 1: well for many a day, and it's only going to
Speaker 1: get worse from here in Any of the lifeguard towers
Speaker 1: are teetering as we speak. All right, let's get into
Speaker 1: a chat here with Alison Osborne from Sky News Weather. Allison,
Speaker 1: what is the information that you have for us about
Speaker 1: the latest and the expect for the next little.
Speaker 7: One, Paul.
Speaker 11: We've already seen a noticeable escalation of whether impacts to
Speaker 11: parts of northeastern New South Wales in the last few hours.
Speaker 11: In southeastern Queensland will quickly follow. Now we have been
Speaker 11: talking about all of the trees down from damaging winds
Speaker 11: across the northern Rivers and the Gold coast more than
Speaker 11: one hundred and twenty kilometers per hour, and those winds
Speaker 11: are strengthening over the next twelve hours or so, and
Speaker 11: of course coastal erosion impacts continue as well.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 11: Tropical Cyclone Alfred has remained a category to storm throughout
Speaker 11: the day. It did strengthen a touch in its intensity
Speaker 11: as in approach the coast. It has now made a
Speaker 11: forecast west northwesterly turn and this is going to increase
Speaker 11: the threat of impacts to Brisbane and areas of southeastern Queensland.
Speaker 11: Here at the highest wind gusts recorded so far today
Speaker 11: and as you can see, things have escalated ninety eight
Speaker 11: kilometers per hour at the Gold Coast Cape Morton Lighthouse
Speaker 11: eighty five. Brisbane has had a relatively calmer day. That's
Speaker 11: simply due to the position of Tropical Cyclone Alfred, focusing
Speaker 11: the worst impacts over coastal areas south of about the
Speaker 11: Gold Coast, sparing Brisbane for now, but that is said
Speaker 11: to change. If we take a look at the rain
Speaker 11: rdar p or we can see the stop start nature
Speaker 11: of those squally showers for much of the day. The heavier,
Speaker 11: more persistent rain though, is starting to settle on in
Speaker 11: we can see the clockwise spiral. We can see the
Speaker 11: storm center from tropical Cyclone Alfred. It is not far away,
Speaker 11: less than sixty kilometers.
Speaker 1: Off the coast.
Speaker 11: We can see those darker shades on the radar too,
Speaker 11: indicating heavier, more persistent rainfall rates. So the gauges are
Speaker 11: feeling already one hundred and twelve millimeters of Lizmore in
Speaker 11: the last twelve hours. Cops are or has seen forty
Speaker 11: fallin out twenty seven, but again Brisbane missing out on
Speaker 11: the worst impact so far, just three point four millimeters. Now,
Speaker 11: the system is still forecast to continue on that west
Speaker 11: northwesterly track, and we can in the early hours of
Speaker 11: the morning as it crosses the coast between Noosa and Bentley.
Speaker 11: Now we can see the system likely to decay quite
Speaker 11: rapidly throughout the morning pool. But I do stress that
Speaker 11: doesn't mean that the impacts are going to be weak.
Speaker 11: So let's take a look at what's happening. So we
Speaker 11: can see the strongest winds in those red wind arrows
Speaker 11: and the heaviest drain in the black that's focused to
Speaker 11: the south of the system. So if it passes to
Speaker 11: the north of Brisbane. This is going to drag the
Speaker 11: impacts of heaviest rain away from the Northern Rivers and
Speaker 11: then over southeastern Queensland and that's likely to be a
Speaker 11: prolonged event, lasting most of tomorrow morning. We're looking at
Speaker 11: twenty four hour rainfall totals potentially exceeding three to four
Speaker 11: hundred and fifty millimeters in the path of the storm,
Speaker 11: so that is still including the Northern Rivers and southeastern Queensland,
Speaker 11: but heavy rainfall rates could lead to flash flooding as
Speaker 11: far north as Double Island point, as far inland as
Speaker 11: to Woomba by tomorrow evening, and then as far south
Speaker 11: as Coffs Harbor, so still quite a wide reaching weather event.
Speaker 11: Here are the current flood warnings. We have major flood
Speaker 11: warnings in place for the Logan River in Queensland and
Speaker 11: then the rivers in the Northern Rivers, so the Tweed,
Speaker 11: the Brunswick, Richmond and Wilson's. The Wilsons River it lives
Speaker 11: more or moderate flood it is rising overnight, and then
Speaker 11: across the mid North coast the Arara River, Bellinger River
Speaker 11: and nan Bucker River also on a major flood warning.
Speaker 11: So we're likely to see those rivers rise overnight and
Speaker 11: then throughout the day tomorrow, long after Tropical Cyclone Alfred
Speaker 11: has weakened. So we will be tracking this event throughout
Speaker 11: the day on at Skyney's Weather channel six to so one.
Speaker 11: But for now we're just watching those rain gages, Phil
Speaker 11: and the winds pick up.
Speaker 1: Paul, Thank you so much, Alison. I really do appreciate
Speaker 1: it all right, plenty more on sky News Weather. John
Speaker 1: Paul Langebrook joins us here at the at the face
Speaker 1: of all of this. He's the local impl and Service Paradise.
Speaker 1: He's a minister in the Queensland government. Nice to see
Speaker 1: you again, mate, Good to be with you. Not your
Speaker 1: first radio lifelong here and you have seen plenty of
Speaker 1: these before.
Speaker 13: Well we haven't seen one for fifty years, but I
Speaker 13: do remember as a child Cyclone Glinda was one that
Speaker 13: hit us in sixty seven. Population of the coast then
Speaker 13: with seventy thousand, a tenth of what it is now,
Speaker 13: and then seventy four was cyclone population one hundred thousand,
Speaker 13: So it's been a long time.
Speaker 1: So also the I mean so much infrastructure has gone
Speaker 1: in as well in that obviously, so many people are
Speaker 1: sitting in towers like ours, much better built. The expectations
Speaker 1: is that if you built something after the nineteen nineties,
Speaker 1: you're going to be in a better place maybe than
Speaker 1: some of the older properties. But there are plenty of
Speaker 1: older properties dotted right along the coastline and further up,
Speaker 1: aren't there.
Speaker 13: Yeah, it's not so much the structures built structures that
Speaker 13: we're worried about. It's the structures beside the beach, because
Speaker 13: that's what we saw in sixty seven when there were
Speaker 13: car wrecks thrown into the ocean to try to build
Speaker 13: the sea wall, which has been exposed today through that
Speaker 13: erosion and then the waves coming in underneath some of
Speaker 13: the structures. Some of the viewing platforms have actually undermined those.
Speaker 13: So that's why the message has been don't go on
Speaker 13: those viewing platforms, especially up towards Main Beach and Narrowneck
Speaker 13: where the water has come in right underneath. And that's
Speaker 13: why we've been warning people about not going out there
Speaker 13: to get into the waves and the wind because we've
Speaker 13: got rain and flooding coming well.
Speaker 1: And even if by brunch time tomorrow, breakfast time tomorrow,
Speaker 1: you feel and you start to see some of the
Speaker 1: numbers changing. All of that structural stuff is going to
Speaker 1: apply for well a very long time. But certainly the
Speaker 1: first couple of days, don't be running off to the
Speaker 1: selfies at the beach to see what happens. Stay away
Speaker 1: from it because it's literally sand underneath you.
Speaker 13: Yeah, exactly, And that's exactly what we've seen over the
Speaker 13: last couple of days, some pretty reckless behavior from well
Speaker 13: even the premier called at Premier chrisif fully called them idiots,
Speaker 13: endangering not just themselves but the first responders who may
Speaker 13: have to go save them, and that takes them away
Speaker 13: from the other work that they'd like to be doing.
Speaker 1: I've been talking a lot about the amount of homes
Speaker 1: that are in your electorate that have lost power. That
Speaker 1: of course means their capacity to charge their phone, which
Speaker 1: means to stay informed. Again, energet's cruise. But they're not
Speaker 1: going to be around tonight. They're not going to be
Speaker 1: around first thing in the morning. This is something to
Speaker 1: have to wait out, isn't it. Yeah.
Speaker 13: I think there's fifty six thousand people without power, or
Speaker 13: there were a few hours ago when I was on
Speaker 13: the disaster management call. Forty nine thousand of those are
Speaker 13: here on the Gold Coast, mainly in the hinterland because
Speaker 13: there've been fallen trees, fallen power lines and it's just
Speaker 13: not safe for energetic workers to get out there.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I like hearing as much behind the scenes as
Speaker 1: possible because we all see the briefings. Spoke about it
Speaker 1: with the Premiere about Okay, when you're looking at information
Speaker 1: at that disaster headquarters, are you seeing things that are
Speaker 1: slightly more detailed than we're saying? He says pretty much. No, Basically,
Speaker 1: all the information is always out there, but that disaster
Speaker 1: management call key minister's constant communication give us an idea
Speaker 1: of that that all of you have different responsibilities in government.
Speaker 1: How is that working tonight?
Speaker 13: Well, the Premier goes around the table and gets briefing
Speaker 13: from each of the ministers, from the Deputy Premier to
Speaker 13: the Energy Minister who's the treasurer, then to Health to
Speaker 13: check about health facilities, schools for me, then through to
Speaker 13: the Local government minister, Communities minister and how's and then
Speaker 13: we get reports from all of the telcos local government mayors.
Speaker 13: So all of that goes through very thoroughly, with the
Speaker 13: Premiere often saying, look, I'd like to let's get some
Speaker 13: information about such and such. Can we have that before
Speaker 13: the end of the call, about things like recharging phones
Speaker 13: and what will happen as a result. So trying to
Speaker 13: get that info out to people as soon as we
Speaker 13: get it.
Speaker 1: I appreciate it and thank you for the behind the
Speaker 1: scenes and that because it helps build that trust about
Speaker 1: what people are hearing. Last one hear your message to
Speaker 1: the coast that might be watching us right now.
Speaker 13: Well, look, people have been through this before. We've given
Speaker 13: people lots of time to try to get ready. Now
Speaker 13: we need to get through what we're going to experience next,
Speaker 13: which is rainfall and flooding. We hope that we don't
Speaker 13: get this storm surge coinciding with the high tide tomorrow
Speaker 13: at three or four am, but I hear it's coming
Speaker 13: in the next twelve hours. Hopefully it'll take us beyond
Speaker 13: that and then we're going to be straight into recovery.
Speaker 13: But taking care of each other is what we need
Speaker 13: to do and staying safe.
Speaker 1: Good stuff. The Education minister, the local MP, John Paula,
Speaker 1: Sorry it's this occasion. Maybe we have a better Friday
Speaker 1: night on the coast into the future, all right. Peter
Speaker 1: Flannery is joining us right now here is the Morton
Speaker 1: Bay city mayor. He of course has got some territories
Speaker 1: that are a little further off the coast as well. Peter,
Speaker 1: tell us about what is happening in your part of
Speaker 1: the world, because you are getting numbers that are even
Speaker 1: bigger than what's happening in parts of Brisbane and certainly
Speaker 1: even here on the Goaldie.
Speaker 14: Yeah, just in the city of may we's done. I
Speaker 14: have a significant amount of rainfall in now. The winds
Speaker 14: are slowly building. It looks like the old Alfred's headed
Speaker 14: directly for the city of Morton Bay, particularly up to
Speaker 14: cabulso so somewhere between bribe Owl and Redcliffe. It looks
Speaker 14: like it's going to make land. Hopefully it'll be downgraded
Speaker 14: to a category weren't there and lost a bit of
Speaker 14: its power that comes through over Morton Island. But we're
Speaker 14: holding our breath now waiting that this has been a
Speaker 14: huge build up for many, many days and the community
Speaker 14: has done a tremendous amount of work preparing for this event.
Speaker 14: We have our fingers crossed now that it moves quickly
Speaker 14: and at least in fact as possible for our city.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Peter, the sense that I've got here is that
Speaker 1: the absolute advantage about the many many days of focus
Speaker 1: is preparation. The frustration with many days is that some
Speaker 1: people think, oh, well, surely it would have happened by now,
Speaker 1: But it is happening now, It is happening tonight, it
Speaker 1: happens tomorrow morning. The effects are going to be basically
Speaker 1: from this darkness to the darkness that follows a day
Speaker 1: from here.
Speaker 14: Yeah, within twelve hours, it's likelying to be upon us.
Speaker 14: It'll be on top of people's houses here in the
Speaker 14: city Inton Bay. As John Paul said, it's been a
Speaker 14: huge build up and a great collaboration between the state
Speaker 14: government in some federal agencies and the local governments in
Speaker 14: Southeast Queenslands are all waking together try and prepare as
Speaker 14: much as possible for this. As he said, fifty years ago,
Speaker 14: we haven't had any cycle since since a lot of
Speaker 14: people haven't experienced that. We're concerned about the wind factor
Speaker 14: here and how it's going to impact on the properties
Speaker 14: and what people are actually going and how they're going to
Speaker 14: respond to that. So our message is there is stay
Speaker 14: indoors now, stays cure.
Speaker 1: When if you do have.
Speaker 14: Some demishia how significant damage call trip below, but please
Speaker 14: be respectful of the staff that can out and support
Speaker 14: you over that time. They can put their leaves of risk.
Speaker 14: They want to make sure they're safe when they come
Speaker 14: and do that, so they could be a little bit
Speaker 14: of time before that happens. And dan't go out and
Speaker 14: get those they self easily put on social media because
Speaker 14: your life's not worth it and somebody else's life's not
Speaker 14: worth it to come and rescue you.
Speaker 1: Absolutely correct. Now, give me an idea about the team
Speaker 1: that is your counsel obviously hunkering down tonight, have been
Speaker 1: doing the preparations. We're talking about people who would nine
Speaker 1: to five be doing something else. They've been focused on this.
Speaker 1: Give me an idea about how a counsel at a
Speaker 1: time like this becomes totally focused. How you're able to
Speaker 1: say that somebody who might be so responsible for one
Speaker 1: thing is doing something else today and tomorrow to make
Speaker 1: sure that the man and woman power to be politically
Speaker 1: correct is as strong as possible.
Speaker 14: Yeah, it's been fatigue manage. It's been a big thing
Speaker 14: because we've tried to get as much as we could
Speaker 14: to the community to get and prepared for this event.
Speaker 14: We're now down to our skeleton staff. Our disaster Coordination
Speaker 14: Center is active tonight. People are sleeping there on site
Speaker 14: because they've got to be respond whenever they need to respond.
Speaker 14: They work in collaboration with all the state agencies, whether
Speaker 14: that's the police, endblets service, the power Energex, Telco's water sewage.
Speaker 14: The whole thing all works together in one well aided machine.
Speaker 14: But when it does hit the fan, then these people
Speaker 14: can respond no matter what time the day or night
Speaker 14: it will be. And it's about managing fatigue and also
Speaker 14: about recovery then, So once the event has come through
Speaker 14: and passed, we'll be getting teams out to do a
Speaker 14: rapid assessment of damage and then trying to get the
Speaker 14: resources in the right place as quickly as possible to
Speaker 14: get people's lives back to normal as quickly as possible.
Speaker 1: Good on your Peter, Thank you to you and your
Speaker 1: community strength and love for the next little while. I
Speaker 1: really do appreciate it. Now. While we were out and
Speaker 1: about as best as we could today and we wanted
Speaker 1: to make sure that not only we knew what was
Speaker 1: happening in the northern rivers in Tweed, we knew that
Speaker 1: cool and Gata, which of course is just that little
Speaker 1: bit further out to if you're looking not at a
Speaker 1: straight coastline, but the jutting coastline that is southeast Queensland. Well,
Speaker 1: we spotted something at the corner of our eyes and
Speaker 1: we thought, is it really happening? Yes, it was. Now
Speaker 1: we know times are serious. We don't want to promote
Speaker 1: people doing silly things. But these aren't people who were
Speaker 1: surfing in the water. They were surfing in mud at Cooley.
Speaker 1: This is going to be one of the places that
Speaker 1: is going to be right in the eye of things
Speaker 1: by this time tomorrow. But it isn't this time tomorrow.
Speaker 1: So how do you spend the last day before a
Speaker 1: cyclone surfing in the mud? Today?
Speaker 8: Mate?
Speaker 1: What's your name? My name's Hudson. How good's that? Right?
Speaker 1: That's so fun? You gotta try it. They had a
Speaker 1: lot of fun. And I'll tell you what, I'd always
Speaker 1: be prepared like a snare, a good scout. Almost, I
Speaker 1: should say, Nick, who's our cameraman who's been bringing you
Speaker 1: all of these incredible pictures. He doesn't just bring one
Speaker 1: thing to put on the microphone because they may get
Speaker 1: dirty at any moment's time. And this thing was filthy,
Speaker 1: and while I would comically throw it off the balcony,
Speaker 1: I will responsibly put it in my pocket. All right,
Speaker 1: no loose items while we're outside, all right, moment or
Speaker 1: two's time plenty More Here a reminder there'll be some
Speaker 1: rolling coverage in the hours after this program. Pete Stefanovic
Speaker 1: special Saturday morning edition, a first edition into Laura Jays
Speaker 1: and a whole rolling array of news coverage. Don't forget
Speaker 1: tomorrow night the Western Australian election, and politically speaking, the
Speaker 1: Prime Minister has tonight made a decision that he will
Speaker 1: not be holding a federal election in April. It will
Speaker 1: be in May. And it's just been confirmed by the
Speaker 1: Treasurer's Office Jim Charmer that the federal budget will be
Speaker 1: handed down on March the twenty fifth. More from the
Speaker 1: Gold Coast. More from Southeast Queensland, with attention on what's
Speaker 1: happening in the northern parts of New South Wales in
Speaker 1: a moment as Tropical Cyclone Alfred is less than one
Speaker 1: hundred k's off the coast. Now, obviously you've seen plenty
Speaker 1: of pictures of the surf and it has been wild.
Speaker 1: I don't know why people go surfing in this stuff.
Speaker 1: But some of the stats that have come out of
Speaker 1: this have been incredible. There's some wave hyd recordings I'm
Speaker 1: not joking what sixteen sixteen meters in some areas will
Speaker 1: have to be confirmed. If that's the case, it'll be
Speaker 1: one of the biggest, if on the biggest that's happened
Speaker 1: in Queensland history. Again, Tropical Cyclone Alfred is less than
Speaker 1: one hundred kilometers off the coast from Brisbane, much closer
Speaker 1: here by the best part of what thirty kilometers a
Speaker 1: little bit closer here on the Gold Coast. The rain
Speaker 1: it'll keep lashing not just here but then further south.
Speaker 1: That causes trouble for the northern rivers of New South Wales.
Speaker 1: That rain then starts to swirl up as imagine a
Speaker 1: clockwise direction. All of that red, all of that pink,
Speaker 1: all of that purple, that's what is lashing behind it.
Speaker 1: That's a pretty long train and a big belting caboose
Speaker 1: that's going to be coming through that rain. It whacks
Speaker 1: towards well, almost all the way down to places like
Speaker 1: Coffs Harbor. The situation tonight where a man has been
Speaker 1: swept away that happened inland from Coffs Harbor all the
Speaker 1: way through to the Sunshine Coast in the next couple
Speaker 1: of days. Fiona Cunningham is the Brisbane Deputy Lord Mayor
Speaker 1: and she joins us now, Fiona, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for talking to us. I've got to say before we
Speaker 1: do anything else, i want to say congratulations to you
Speaker 1: and the council for the information. As a person who's
Speaker 1: a visitor in this beautiful part but loves Queensland. The
Speaker 1: information on the website, it's world class. It's something that
Speaker 1: the city and the state should be very proud of.
Speaker 1: And also the benefit of your council area is that
Speaker 1: it basically is the metropolitan area. So give us the
Speaker 1: latest about what's happening in Brisbane tonight. While right now
Speaker 1: it's the Goldie, it's Brisbane tomorrow.
Speaker 9: Thanks Paul. Yeah, so I'm based in Coopero my home
Speaker 9: base tonight because I'm following the advice which is to
Speaker 9: stay home, stay safe, indoors. We expect the cyclone. It's
Speaker 9: knocking on our door at the moment, but we expect
Speaker 9: it to really hit tomorrow morning at around seven am.
Speaker 9: By midday those winds will really pick up and then
Speaker 9: after that it's the rain. So we're expecting up to
Speaker 9: two hundred and fifty millimeters of rain tomorrow. And of
Speaker 9: course Brisbane knows what to do in a flood, but
Speaker 9: this is a very different event. Okay, we're talking about
Speaker 9: two natural disasters in one. First we have the cyclone
Speaker 9: coming through and then we will have the flood. So
Speaker 9: it's really important. The key message that we need to
Speaker 9: get across to people right now is to stay indoors
Speaker 9: and to stay safe even after the cyclone has passed.
Speaker 9: Please stay safe indoors until you get the advice that
Speaker 9: it's okay to go out. Of course people will be
Speaker 9: anxious and wanting to help others, but start local. Start
Speaker 9: with your neighbors and your family and your friends. Please
Speaker 9: don't go sightseeing. That's the last thing we need right now.
Speaker 9: We need people to stay in their home base and
Speaker 9: stay safe.
Speaker 1: Now, Fiona, something that is always impressive is again how
Speaker 1: people are taking care of each other. And certainly something
Speaker 1: I'm trying to do in our conversation is to give
Speaker 1: people an idea of how the sausage is made. Here
Speaker 1: at Brisbane City Council. You're well practiced in all of
Speaker 1: this stuff, But when we're talking about the type of
Speaker 1: flooding event, what are some of the things that the
Speaker 1: city itself can do in the early hours of tomorrow
Speaker 1: through the day tomorrow to start to deal to make
Speaker 1: sure that your storm water systems, all of that is
Speaker 1: working the way that it should. But obviously there's only
Speaker 1: so much water it can take.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 9: One of the benefits that we've actually had, Paul is
Speaker 9: we've had a bit of notice with cyclone Alfred Right.
Speaker 9: He's sort of been promising to come and visit us
Speaker 9: for a couple of days now, and people have been
Speaker 9: getting perhaps a little bit complacent, thinking is he actually
Speaker 9: going to arrive. He is arriving, and we've been able
Speaker 9: to take that extra time we've had to start preparation
Speaker 9: in our city, so we're already starting to pull together
Speaker 9: our recovery teams. We've got teams on standby ready for
Speaker 9: a rapid assessment to get out there when it's safe
Speaker 9: to understand what kind of damage we're dealing with, to
Speaker 9: then be able to support the community through the next
Speaker 9: few days. We're also got Volunteering Queensland on board where
Speaker 9: we're going to be working with them around how best
Speaker 9: to manage the cleanup effort and get people engaged in this. Brisbane,
Speaker 9: like you said, has been through floods, but this is
Speaker 9: a very different event. There are different hazards this time around,
Speaker 9: and we need to be incredibly we can not put
Speaker 9: more importance on safety of people because of fallen power
Speaker 9: lines and trees. I mean we're talking about lives here.
Speaker 9: We must be safe.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Fiona, to you and all of
Speaker 1: your team, I really do appreciate it. Thank you to
Speaker 1: everyone who's joined us on camera, to all the people
Speaker 1: that have helped us behind the scenes. Again, we will
Speaker 1: have Sky News coverage all the way through the night.
Speaker 1: I'll be here tomorrow morning again with Pete Stefanovic and
Speaker 1: with Laura. If you are watching us and you are
Speaker 1: in the zone right now, you've got to stay inside.
Speaker 1: As soon as this camera goes off, that door gets
Speaker 1: locked and we will spend the night inside. Like you.
Speaker 1: Strength and love to everyone, To those that are sending
Speaker 1: that strength and love from around the country, keep it coming.
Speaker 1: We'll see you again tomorrow during the new special edition
Speaker 1: of Paul Murray, same time at Sunday night. That's our show,
Speaker 1: and stand by for more here, on sky News,