Speaker 1: Already and this is the Daily This is the Daily OS. Oh,
Speaker 1: now it makes sense.
Speaker 2: Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Thursday,
Speaker 2: the sixth of March. I'm zara, i'm emma. Millions of
Speaker 2: residents in parts of Queensland and New South Wales are
Speaker 2: bracing for the arrival of Cyclone Alfred, which is due
Speaker 2: to make landfall early on Friday morning. Authorities are warning
Speaker 2: the rare weather event could bring with it significant rainfall
Speaker 2: and high winds. In today's podcast, we're going to explain
Speaker 2: what we know so far, what's been done to ready
Speaker 2: the communities at risk, and how residents can stay in formed.
Speaker 1: Zara, As you mentioned, Cyclone Alfred is due to make
Speaker 1: landfall later on this week, so later to day, early tomorrow,
Speaker 1: and the destruction that it may bring remains uncertain. It's
Speaker 1: an ever evolved situation. But what do we know so far?
Speaker 2: Yeah, So what we know so far is that cyclone
Speaker 2: Alfred is currently heading for southeast Queensland. As you said,
Speaker 2: it's expected to make landfall either late tonight or early
Speaker 2: tomorrow morning around one am. It's expected to make landfall
Speaker 2: as a Category two system in Brisbane, but the area
Speaker 2: it's expected to effect is far greater than just Brisbane.
Speaker 2: So the warning zone at the time of recording stretches
Speaker 2: from Double Island Point in Queensland to Yamba in northern
Speaker 2: New South Wales. Now I mentioned just before that we're
Speaker 2: expecting it to land as a category two system. When
Speaker 2: it comes to categorizing systems in Australia, there are five categories.
Speaker 2: What we mean when we say category two is that
Speaker 2: we're expecting winds of up to one hundred and sixty
Speaker 2: four kilometers per hour. We're expecting significant damage to signs,
Speaker 2: to trees, to caravans, and then also minor damage to homes.
Speaker 1: That's really interesting because I think when we hear that
Speaker 1: scale of there being five categories, you know you'd be
Speaker 1: forgiven for thinking maybe a category two isn't so intense.
Speaker 1: But imagining one hundred and sixty kilometer per hour windmen speed,
Speaker 1: it's huge. It's unimaginable. That's incredibly powerful.
Speaker 2: It is, and authorities have warned it could make landfall
Speaker 2: as a category three, so it could be even more severe,
Speaker 2: but that this isn't highly likely. They are expecting it
Speaker 2: more around that category two level. However, right now, more
Speaker 2: than four million people are expected to be impacted by
Speaker 2: this imminent arrival of the cyclone. So that I think
Speaker 2: talks to how intense.
Speaker 1: Exactly and a really densely populated area of the country.
Speaker 1: Southeast Queensland is a very densely populated part of Australia,
Speaker 1: and I mean it speaks to this apprehension that we're
Speaker 1: seeing right around the country as people kind of ready
Speaker 1: themselves for this one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. And I think it's also because we've known
Speaker 2: about Alfred for a little while now. We first learned
Speaker 2: of it over a week ago, some like nine or
Speaker 2: ten days ago now, when it first started to form
Speaker 2: in the Coral Sea, which is about nine hundred kilometers
Speaker 2: northeast of Cannes, before it headed out to sea. It
Speaker 2: then over the course of a couple of days tracked south.
Speaker 2: It reached a severe Category four status east of Mackay.
Speaker 2: But then just in the last day or so, the
Speaker 2: Bureau of Meteorology has said that the cyclone's essentially done
Speaker 2: it a bit of a U turn and that's why
Speaker 2: it's now tracking for Southeast Queensland at that category two system. Zara.
Speaker 1: You also mentioned though, that this is a cyclone expected
Speaker 1: to impact an area that stretches from Queensland right down
Speaker 1: to New South Wales as well, so across state lines.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. So we now have this situation that the
Speaker 2: crisis is expected to hit some parts of New South
Speaker 2: Wales as well as Queensland. And to give you a
Speaker 2: sense of how serious this is, New South Wales SES
Speaker 2: Commissioner Mike Wassing said yesterday that emergency services are bracing
Speaker 2: for three natural disaster events in one. There he's talking
Speaker 2: about high winds, heavy rains and then flash flooding, all
Speaker 2: of which is expected to occur almost immediately at once.
Speaker 2: And so even before the eye of the storm has
Speaker 2: even really been felt, there's already huge swells and high
Speaker 2: winds already being experienced in some parts of Queensland.
Speaker 1: Yeah. One of the huge I suppose areas of concern
Speaker 1: with this kind of a system is exactly what you've
Speaker 1: spoken to, that it's this triple whammy of winds, rain storms,
Speaker 1: and especially some of these regions that have been so
Speaker 1: ravaged by floods already this year and in recent months
Speaker 1: around that southeast Queensland and far northern New South Wales area.
Speaker 1: You know, flooding is another thing but we're talking about
Speaker 1: a whole other scale of damage, and I think that
Speaker 1: speaks to some of the commentary about this and how
Speaker 1: rare A cyclone in this part of Australia is a
Speaker 1: fairly unprecedented weather event. I've lived in New South Wales
Speaker 1: my whole life, and I don't remember there ever being
Speaker 1: a cyclone here. It feels like the kind of story
Speaker 1: we often hear in the far north of Queensland or
Speaker 1: the Northern Territory or WA. But when was the last
Speaker 1: time we saw a threat like this in this area.
Speaker 2: I mean, you're exactly right to not recall it happening
Speaker 2: in New South Wales recently, because the last time that
Speaker 2: there was a cyclone that affected New South Wales was
Speaker 2: in nineteen ninety. That's when Cyclone Nancy just brushed the
Speaker 2: coast near Byron, So that wasn't kind of a full
Speaker 2: on impact like we're expecting here. Yeah. The last tropical
Speaker 2: cyclone to cross the southeast Queensland coast though, was x
Speaker 2: Tropical Cyclone Zoe, and that was in nineteen seventy four. Wow,
Speaker 2: over fifty years.
Speaker 1: It was really unusual.
Speaker 2: It is really unusual, and so you know, there's both
Speaker 2: the intensity of the storm, but also then how we
Speaker 2: regularly something like this does occur. And those two things
Speaker 2: coupled together, I think are very concerning for emergency services
Speaker 2: as they prepare themselves and ready these communities.
Speaker 1: Yees, So there really is that sort of element of
Speaker 1: the unpre and to nature of something like this in
Speaker 1: this part of the country. What are the preparation plans?
Speaker 1: You know, we have known about this for some time.
Speaker 1: Obviously meteorological advancements are so fantastic that now we do
Speaker 1: have all of this build up to get ready. How
Speaker 1: are residents preparing and planning to reduce the expected impact?
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I'll start first with Queensland and then I'll
Speaker 2: move on to New South Wales because of course we've
Speaker 2: got two different governments of two different political persuasions, so
Speaker 2: I'll take one by one. So in Queensland, residents were
Speaker 2: first told on Monday to start preparing for the cyclone.
Speaker 2: So at the time that included things like getting tinned food,
Speaker 2: making an emergency kit, getting their passports together, and also
Speaker 2: clearing debris from properties. You know, that was in anticipation
Speaker 2: of the flooding, and whatever else.
Speaker 1: Loose items, securing things that might be in your backyard
Speaker 1: the exact flyaway and be hazardous.
Speaker 2: At the time, Queensland Premier David chris A fully said
Speaker 2: that we are putting all preparations in place and we're
Speaker 2: asking Queenslanders to do the same. It's important that people
Speaker 2: take this event seriously now. Since that time, telecommunications companies
Speaker 2: have been instructed to increase network capacity. That's in anticipation
Speaker 2: of you know, increased demand if people trying to text
Speaker 2: their loved ones, trying to get internet. Local supermarkets have
Speaker 2: also been told that they need to regularly restock shelves.
Speaker 2: We've already seen some items completely unavailable and like some
Speaker 2: supermarkets completely empty. So supermarkets are under instruction that they
Speaker 2: need to be restocking as much as is you know,
Speaker 2: viable and possible.
Speaker 1: I've heard David Crucifie speaking to that point. And the
Speaker 1: unique kind of advantage of the location of southeast Queensland
Speaker 1: here is that ideally supermarkets will be able to restock
Speaker 1: because access isn't going to be cut off in any
Speaker 1: particular direction that you know, hopefully from the north and
Speaker 1: the south, that food and grocery items will still be
Speaker 1: able to make.
Speaker 2: Their way into those supermarkets exactly and At the same time,
Speaker 2: all Brisbane ferry services have been terminated, as have curbside
Speaker 2: rubbish collections. I just thought that was interesting, like the
Speaker 2: things that you have to think about as you prepare
Speaker 2: for something like this. Very significantly, a majority of schools
Speaker 2: across the region will be closed both today and tomorrow.
Speaker 2: In New South Wales, some of those schools were already
Speaker 2: closed yesterday, but in Queensland that is beginning today, and
Speaker 2: then in terms of New South Wales the same is
Speaker 2: mostly true in terms of that preparation, as well as
Speaker 2: that the state's emergency Service will send additional personnel, equipment
Speaker 2: and vehicles to the mid North Coast as well as
Speaker 2: the northern rivers. And I do just want to pick
Speaker 2: up on something you mentioned a bit earlier in passing.
Speaker 2: You said that you know there are areas that have
Speaker 2: been ravaged by floods historically. Yeah, and I do just
Speaker 2: want to note that Lizmore, this city in New South
Speaker 2: Wales that was absolutely destroyed by flooding three years ago.
Speaker 2: We would all remember the really devastating vision from that time.
Speaker 2: Lizmore is once again in the firing of this cyclone,
Speaker 2: and so you know, residents who had to rebuild and
Speaker 2: have been continuing to rebuild their homes from the flooding
Speaker 2: last time, are now being told that they need to
Speaker 2: again prepare for the worst. And you know, the New
Speaker 2: South Wales government has recognized this, has recognized how difficult
Speaker 2: this must be. We had Jihaddibb, who's the Emergency Services Minister,
Speaker 2: saying we're cognizant of what the Northern Rivers have gone
Speaker 2: through and some of the trauma that they carry. So
Speaker 2: you know, I'm sure a lot of attention will be
Speaker 2: on how we can once again help the people of
Speaker 2: Lismore rebuild.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the Northern Rivers region has certainly been through it.
Speaker 1: We've heard now Zara from the state government's Queensland and
Speaker 1: New South Wales a bit of local government council response
Speaker 1: there too. What about the federal government. Have we heard
Speaker 1: from them on cyclone Alfred?
Speaker 2: Yeah, we have so. Prime Minister Anthony Albernezi appeared at
Speaker 2: a press conference with the Queensland Premier yesterday. He said
Speaker 2: that the Australian Defense Forces have been engaged and that
Speaker 2: they're ready to assist. He also said that heavy lift
Speaker 2: helicopters were being deployed to help with the situation, and
Speaker 2: that the federal government was sending two hundred and fifty
Speaker 2: thousand sand bags directly to Queensland and to the government there.
Speaker 1: And so those sandbags are helpful in extreme rain and
Speaker 1: flash flooding events. People will put them up around their
Speaker 1: shops and the houses to try and stop water inundating
Speaker 1: those properties.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. And just before we move on, I did
Speaker 2: just want to mention a quick tidbit and this is
Speaker 2: absolutely not the most important part of this story, but
Speaker 2: I do just think it's interesting given we're talking about
Speaker 2: Anthony Alban Easy. Yep, this cyclone was actually meant to
Speaker 2: be named cyclone Anthony.
Speaker 1: This is the one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is the one. And that's because of naming
Speaker 2: conventions of cyclones, which I don't know if people have
Speaker 2: ever looked into, but it is a bit interesting. So
Speaker 2: the way it works is that the Bureau of Meteorology
Speaker 2: basically cycles through an alphabetical list that alternates by gender.
Speaker 2: And so when cyclone Zelia hit that was the last
Speaker 2: cyclone Australia experience that hit wa. It was a small
Speaker 2: cyclone at the time, but when Cyclone Zelia hit, the
Speaker 2: next name on the list because Zelia obviously starts with
Speaker 2: a Z and was a female name. The next letter
Speaker 2: on the list was A and that was to be
Speaker 2: a male name, and that name was Anthony. However, the
Speaker 2: Bureau did decide to skip that name because of the
Speaker 2: Prime Minister, because they say that they don't like to
Speaker 2: name things that coincide with high profile individuals, and therefore
Speaker 2: this cyclone is called Alfred and not Anthony.
Speaker 1: Yes, so interesting, but obviously those quotes from the bomb
Speaker 1: were that you know this, there is a precedent for
Speaker 1: this with significant political cultural figures. Also, when I did
Speaker 1: a deep dive on the naming conventions, there are actually
Speaker 1: two alphabets so that you don't kind of cycle back
Speaker 1: to another name name within kind of a generation. So
Speaker 1: you've got the two alphabets. Very interesting for people that
Speaker 1: like learning out about that stuff. But back to cyclone Alfred.
Speaker 1: As you said, this is an ever evolving kind of
Speaker 1: a system, a fast moving event, and we really don't
Speaker 1: know yet how it's going to evolve. How are people
Speaker 1: being advised to stay informed these communities in these impacted
Speaker 1: parts of northern New South Wales and southeast Queensland.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I did really want to end on this note
Speaker 2: because you know, obviously we are in information service and
Speaker 2: at a time like this, getting the right information is
Speaker 2: so so important. So firstly, and you know, this is
Speaker 2: something that applies to all situations, but especially a crisis
Speaker 2: like this, it is important to seek out verified sources
Speaker 2: and that means you know, going directly to emergency services
Speaker 2: or local authorities to get your information, whether that be online,
Speaker 2: on TV, however you are accessing that information online. There
Speaker 2: is so much missing disinformation and that just flourishes during
Speaker 2: a crisis. You know, bad faith actors tend to exploit
Speaker 2: situations like this, and so it is really important to
Speaker 2: go directly to that primary source. Local councils these really
Speaker 2: really useful and reliable disaster dashboards. So most local councils
Speaker 2: have these, and they include things like live warnings, evacuation locations,
Speaker 2: latest road conditions, and so much more. And so it
Speaker 2: is helpful to look up your local council and see
Speaker 2: whether they do have one of these disaster dashboards because
Speaker 2: they really bring together all of the disparate information in
Speaker 2: one place, because it can be so overwhelming when you're
Speaker 2: trying to get the latest but then you're getting all
Speaker 2: this information at the same time. Authorities are also recommending
Speaker 2: that people find or buy a battery operated AMFM radio
Speaker 2: so that if the power goes out, which we are
Speaker 2: expecting to happen. That's what a category to cyclone can create,
Speaker 2: those sort of mass power outages. And so if you
Speaker 2: can't charge your phone, having one of these battery operated
Speaker 2: radios will mean that you can still get up to
Speaker 2: date information, and I thought that's a really good thing
Speaker 2: for people to keep in mind.
Speaker 1: It's also a good kind of fall back for if
Speaker 1: cell towers end up getting affected, if telecommunications providers can't
Speaker 1: provide coverage in certain areas.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. And I do just want to end on
Speaker 2: the note that the ABC is really vital during times
Speaker 2: like this. Local radio plays a huge role. They are
Speaker 2: all over these emergency situations and are also best place
Speaker 2: to be reporting on them at the same time. And
Speaker 2: so if you are in one of these affected areas,
Speaker 2: it is also a good idea to try and tune
Speaker 2: into your local ABC radio station to also keep on
Speaker 2: top of the latest information there.
Speaker 1: There are a couple of apps. There's a new South
Speaker 1: Wales and Queensland sort of emergency hazard app will pop
Speaker 1: some links to resources in the show notes that's such
Speaker 1: helpful advice, Zara and really interesting information. Of course, over
Speaker 1: on the Daily os we will be continuing to keep
Speaker 1: a close eye on this one and we'll be updating
Speaker 1: information regularly on our Instagram. And if you are listening
Speaker 1: today in one of them, please impacted zones, please take
Speaker 1: care of yourself, Please look after each other and know
Speaker 1: that you are in our thoughts over the next few days.
Speaker 2: My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda
Speaker 2: Bunjelung Kalkadin woman from Gadighl country. The Daily oz acknowledges
Speaker 2: that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the
Speaker 2: Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and torrest
Speaker 2: Rate island and nations. We pay our respects to the
Speaker 2: first peoples of these countries, both past and present.