Australia news live: Tropical Cyclone Alfred update; BoM warns cyclone will bring some of year’s highest tides as Queensland requests 250,000 more sandbags
Cyclone will bring some of ‘highest tides we will see within the year’: BoM
The BoM’s Sue Oates says by tomorrow night and early Thursday morning, some of “the highest tides we will see within the year” are forecast.
In terms of rainfall, this is set to commence later in the day tomorrow for exposed coastal areas, with isolated totals up to 100mm.
[This] does not seem like a lot, but as Tropical Cyclone Alfred continues to move closer to the coast, that rainfall will move further inland and become more intense and we’re likely to see daily rainfall totals of around 200mm-plus, with isolated totals even higher than that – and up around 400mm is not out of the question.
Three-day rainfall totals for isolated areas may reach 700mm, Oates said.
As you can imagine, this is likely to cause riverine flooding through south-east Queensland.
Key events
Exams, psych test axed in bid to boost police recruits
Exams and psych tests to join an Australian police force will be relaxed in a dramatic measure to bolster frontline officers and fast-track recruitment.
Victoria Police announced an array of changes today, as it battles low morale and seeks to fill more than 1000 vacancies statewide.
These mean paramedics, firefighters, defence force personnel and those with an ATAR score higher than 65, as well as a study score of at least 25 in English, will no longer need to sit an entrance exam.
Individuals who have completed a bachelor degree in the arts, science, humanities, business or law will also be exempt from the exam.
The changes take effect immediately and apply to residents who studied or worked in emergency services in Australia, New Zealand or the United Kingdom in the past five years.
Also removed is the need for the majority of potential recruits to have a one-on-one psychologist appointment.
Acting Chief Commissioner Rick Nugent said the changes meant quality applicants would no longer be held up with unnecessary obstacles.
– Australian Associated Press
Emily Wind
And with that, the Queensland press conference has wrapped up.
I’ll hand the blog over to Rafqa Touma for the afternoon, who will take you through the rest of today’s news. Take care.
Queensland premier wants NRL and AFL to make call on whether games go ahead
David Crisafulli said he has spoken with the NRL as well as the AFL, as games are scheduled for this week.
The premier says he wants them to make the call on whether the games go ahead:
We’re giving them the most up-to-date information and I’m mindful that there are moving parts, we’ve got two AFL games and an NRL game. They’re important events for everybody.
We give the information and we’re asking them to make the call and communicate that directly with their fans and we’ll continue to provide information.
Councils looking at potential evacuation centres
The Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, is back up, and says the moment councils have a clearer idea of the system’s potential impacts, notices and doorknocking will ramp up.
Councils will release a map but in conjunction with that, there will be doorknocking as well and we’re happy to assist in that regard. It’s led by councils – it’s their data, it’s their communities – but we’ve got a role to play as well.
In terms of evacuation centres, the premier said councils were working on them.
When they open those centres, it will be communicated … That information will flow in the days ahead.
It’s not at that stage at this point on a wide scale, but I know all councils are considering that as we look at the modelling in the days ahead.
How long is the system expected to cross over the coast, and how long will people feel it?
Sue Oates said the impacts would be felt from tomorrow afternoon, through to the coastal crossing.
How long we get those impacts [for] will depend on when we get that coastal crossing, which – at the moment, we’re anticipating that that will be later in the day Thursday, if not Friday morning.
Once the system does cross the coast, in regards to the sea conditions and the wind conditions, they should ease fairly rapidly but what remains is the rainfall risk and that will continue for a couple of days. We’ll continue to have a flooding risk right into the weekend.
BoM expects tides ‘at least half a metre above the highest astronomical tide’
Sue Oates from the Bureau of Meteorology has been taking questions and is asked about the abnormally high tides she mentioned earlier.
She says the bureau measures them using a “reference point of the highest astronomical tide – so that’s the highest tidal level that a location can expect”.
So with the category 2 system coming in, and based on the best modelling guidance available to us – appreciating that the highest anomaly on the tide, so that additional layer on the tides, will be closer to the system centre on the southern side of coastal crossing.
At this stage, we’re anticipating at least half a metre above the highest astronomical tide, with slightly higher values around that area of coastal crossing, wherever that might be.
So when I say higher values, they’re looking like up to 0.8 metres at this point in time.
Call triple zero if you see wires down, Energex says
An Energex representative said 1,000 field staff were ready to deploy if needed over the coming days.
We’ll only do so when it’s safe to do so … The other message I’d like to get out there: if there’s wires down, please dial 000. [Even] if you don’t think they’re live, they still might be, so dial 000 and just stay safe.
Vulnerable people should decide in next 24 hours if they want to leave, authorities say
Maritime Safety has also provided a brief update, stating CityCat services had ceased operations so “those vessels can be stored safely”.
Ferries and barges in Moreton Bay will start to see services over the next 24 hours … Vulnerable members of the community that need medical transport or disability support, please reach out early. We urge you to make your decision and leave in the next 24 hours.
‘Ask early, ask now’: more than 800 requests for SES assistance in last 24 hours
A representative from the Queensland SES is up now, and says more than 800 requests for assistance have been made in the last 24 hours.
[This] was up from 70 in the previous 24-hour period, so that’s good; the message is getting through that if you need help – particularly vulnerable people – ask early, ask now, before the rain starts falling and the wind starts blowing.
Swift water rescue teams being deployed for flooding response
A Queensland Fire Department representative is up next, and says a “large cohort” of swift water technicians will be arriving today and tomorrow, placed from Maryborough to the border “in the event that someone is trapped during this event”.
As you have heard from the bureau, there is a large amount of water that will be coming and there’ll be lots of causeways, etcetera, that will be inundated and will be flooded. So we are prepared and have plenty of resources both in terms of motorised rescue craft, but more importantly, our swift water rescue technicians.
Queensland has requested further 250k sandbags
Shane Chelepy says more than 100,000 sandbags are ready to be distributed across south-east Queensland, with more coming tomorrow.
He says he’s engaged with the National Emergency Management Agency to arrange a further 250,000 sandbags to arrive within the next 24 hours.
Right now, there’s a further 134,000 sandbags that we have identified that are at Richlands, and a further 200,000 sandbags on order from our suppliers. We have a further 40,000 sandbags across our south-east Queensland areas now that we are providing to councils.
Voluntary evacuations already occurring
The acting Queensland police commissioner, Shane Chelepy, has also been speaking to reporters, about the decision for some families to voluntary evacuate.
If you decide to leave, you need to leave before the event starts impacting you. Go and stay with family and friends. The worst time to make the decision to leave is when we’re in the middle of the event because [it] not only puts you at risk, but it puts the emergency service at risk who need to come and assist you.
He said voluntary evacuations were already occurring on South Stradbroke Island as a precaution, with doorknocking occurring in at-risk areas on the Sunshine Coast, Moreton Bay and the Brisbane Bay areas today.
So my message to you is, if someone doorknocks your home, please listen to their advice and act accordingly.
Cyclone will bring some of ‘highest tides we will see within the year’: BoM
The BoM’s Sue Oates says by tomorrow night and early Thursday morning, some of “the highest tides we will see within the year” are forecast.
In terms of rainfall, this is set to commence later in the day tomorrow for exposed coastal areas, with isolated totals up to 100mm.
[This] does not seem like a lot, but as Tropical Cyclone Alfred continues to move closer to the coast, that rainfall will move further inland and become more intense and we’re likely to see daily rainfall totals of around 200mm-plus, with isolated totals even higher than that – and up around 400mm is not out of the question.
Three-day rainfall totals for isolated areas may reach 700mm, Oates said.
As you can imagine, this is likely to cause riverine flooding through south-east Queensland.
Bureau of Meteorology provides update
Sue Oates from the Bureau of Meteorology says Tropical Cyclone Alfred is now located 600km east of Brisbane.
It is still continuing to move somewhat slowly away from the coast. However, this should change in the next 24 hours and we will start to see [it] stall, and then turn on a westward track towards the south-east Queensland coast.
By late Wednesday, she says, gale-force winds with gusts in excess of 90km/h on coastal areas are forecast.
As the system moves closer towards the coast, and at this time looks to be approaching the coast late Thursday into early Friday morning, those winds will continue to increase …
Teams working to assist homeless people during cyclone: Crisafulli
Continuing to address the media, the Queensland premier said the department of housing had been working with councils to assist homeless people amid the cyclone.
There are a number of community organisations who do a world of good work here. We’re going to do all we can to offer immediate assistance to those people who accept those offers, and that offer will be made and will be made multiple times as well.
Anyone needing help, we do have a 24/7 homelessness hotline: 1800 474 753.
Queensland amends regulation to apply 24-hour resupply of supermarkets in 21 LGAs
Moving to the supermarkets, amid a surge in panic buying, David Crisafulli said he has amended regulations to allow resupply in 21 local government areas to be conducted 24/7.
That’s never happened before a disaster.
He said there were no connectivity issues for north and far north Queensland in terms of accessing the Bruce highway, with north and south access. He continued:
By lifting those restrictions, it will enable more supply to get there and then it’s up to the supermarkets to continue to do all they can to meet the demand, meet the resupply, and have adequate staffing to do so.
Transport and schools update
The Queensland premier said 463 police recruits were going to “get a first taste of helping their community” by assisting with the cyclone response.
David Crisafulli added that schools would be open tomorrow, with updates regarding Thursday to be announced tomorrow.
The port of Brisbane was closed to freight, he said, and the airport had set procedures based on wind velocity that it is following.
If passengers are considering changing their flight, they should go directly to their airline. I’m told that the airlines will also be reaching out to some of those passengers.
In terms of public transport, Crisafulli said they too had guidelines they were following and more information would be announced in coming days.
