Grey nomads travelling in south east Queensland and northern New South Wales are among those anxiously watching the path of Tropical Cyclone Alfred, which is expected to make landfall late on Thursday or early Friday.
Like residents of the area, travellers have been taken by surprise that a cyclone like this looks set to hit so far south.
The latest bulletin for the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) says Alfred is estimated to be 560 kilometres east of Brisbane and 560 kilometres east of Maroochydore. It is currently moving southeast, but it is expected to slow and turn west towards the Queensland coast later today.
Alfred’s intensity may fluctuate between category 1 and 2 over the next few days, but it is forecast to cross the southeast Queensland coast at category 2 strength.
People across a wide area of SE Queensland and northern NSW are preparing for potential flooding. PIC: Pixabay / Canislupus
The Bureau warned that gales with damaging wind gusts to 120 kilometres per hour are expected to develop along the southeast Queensland and northeastern New South Wales coastal fringes, along with torrential rain.
It recommends people between Sandy Cape in Queensland and Grafton in New South Wales should consider what action they will need to take if the cyclone threat increases.
Many have already made that decision. On Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, Jason Filippini, who manages Cotton Tree Holiday Park near Maroochydore and four other parks, told the ABC that most guests had left early or cancelled.
He said he would be working closely with the parks’ permanent residents to ensure they had a safe place to evacuate to if needed and had been asking them to consider “alternate accommodation arrangements” for the end of the week.
And Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) has been strongly advising campers to consider leaving K’gari, Inskip and Cooloola camping areas, while it is still safe to do so. It is currently not accepting new camping bookings in these recreation areas, with refunds available for those who have already booked.
“The safety of campers in our national parks is our top priority and we will visit re-opening camping bookings when it is safe to do so,” the QPWS said. “We urge those leaving camping areas to drive safely, stay off the dunes and follow the instructions of QPWS rangers and emergency services.”
The Queensland Government has this advice for caravanners:
Park facing the wind: When parking or relocating your caravan when severe weather warnings have been issued, ensure you park with the narrow end facing the wind, park out of the way of trees that might fall and be mindful of any areas that may flood during a storm.
Chock the wheels: Apply the brakes and chock the wheels.
Caravan awning: Take your awning down as soon as possible.
Tie down your caravan securely: If there are no anchor points, dig holes under your caravan wheel to increase wind resistance, sink posts of angle iron at the tyre corners. Caravan parks in high-wind areas usually provide ground anchor points. If there is an anchor point, you should tie down your chassis with either short lengths of strong chain and turnbuckles or sound rope of at least 9.5mm diameter. If there are no anchor points, you should use nylon rope or steel cable anchored at ground level and attached to the caravan chassis.
Tie down the roof: Tie down your roof – the most effective roof tie-down is a strong net firmly fixed at ground level and passing over the full length of the caravan.
Loose equipment: Put all your equipment inside the caravan, including your annex, bikes, chairs, household items.
Turn off gas and electricity: In addition, if storm surge or flood warnings are issued, unplug all electrical devices and place them on a higher level rather than on the floor to prevent them from getting wet, switch all gas supplies off.
Seek shelter: Even if your caravan is securely tied down, you should seek other shelter when warned of approaching high winds.
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We are in Toowoomba travelling in our bus we are concerned about heading over range towards goondawindi do we go today or wait? Just not sure can anyone advise us please?
Goondiwindi is further away from the coast, so the event will be less impactful there. If you’ve made it to the top of the range in Toowoomba, keep going. Just keep a watch on wind forecasts and find a safe refuge in the event of gale force winds. The wind will peak tomorrow evening, but is currently well under forecast (current forecast Wed 20:00) I’d be going west early in the morning.