Hundreds of thousands of people in the state of Queensland in Australia did not have energy on Sunday after Alfred, a degraded tropical cyclone, brought harmful winds and heavy rains, causing flood warnings.
About 316,540 people had no energy in the southeast of Queensland, where Gold Coast’s city was the worst affected area with more than 112,000 without energy due to the storm system, said Energex Energy Distributor in a statement.
The storm arrived at the coast of Queensland on Saturday as a “tropical minimum” after 16 days as a cyclone, which caused preparations of millions of residents. The state capital, Brisbane, was saved from the storm, which also felt in the south of the neighbor, Nueva Gales del Sur.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Sunday that “the situation in Queensland and the north of Nueva Gales del Sur remains very serious due to children’s and heavy winds.”
“It is expected that heavy rains, harmful bursts and impacts on coastal surf continue during the next few days,” Ssaid Albanese in Canberra, in comments televised by the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
The Nation’s Meteorology Office said that heavy rains that could cause sudden floods developed on Sunday and could affect Brisbane, as well as the regional Ipswich centers of Queensland, Sunshine Coast and Gympie, he said.
The harmful winds with bursts of around 90 kilometers per hour were also possible in the state, the office said on its website.
“Now it’s just a weak minimum, as it continues to advance more inland through southeast Queensland, bringing a lot of rain,” said the meteorologist of the Dean Narramore office.
Brisbane airport reopened on Sunday, but published in X that “the continuous climate can affect the schedule.”
Queensland will decide on Sunday about whether around 1,000 state schools, closed due to bad weather, will open on Monday, said state prime minister David Crisafulli.
“Where it is safe to do it, the schools will open again with the exception of Gold Coast, where there is significant damage. Loss of energy and transport problems,” Crisafulli said in Brisbane televised comments.
“One thing remained consistent, and that is the community spirit and resolution,” he said.
On Saturday, a man died in the water of the flood in the north of Nueva Wales del Sur, while two vehicles of the Australian Defense Force on the way to help the residents of the city of Lisore were involved in a road collision that injured several officers, officials said officials.
