Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Donna Demaio: Australian Correspondent on Australians bracing for Cyclone Alfred

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Donna Demaio: Australian Correspondent on Australians bracing for Cyclone Alfred · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So Australia is bracing for tropical Cyclone Alfred to hit.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: It's slowed down a little bit. Tens of thousands of
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: people are now without power across Southeast Queensland and northern
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  Speaker 1: New South Wales, and thousands more have been ordered to evacuate.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: We've already had one hundred and twenty kilometers in our
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  Speaker 1: wind gusts between Morton Island and Byron Bay, and the
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  Speaker 1: Category two storm is expected to make landfall from tonight.
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  Speaker 1: Here is Australia's Prime Minister, Anthony Albanezi. These are tough times,
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  Speaker 1: but Australian's a tough people and we're resilient people. My
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  Speaker 1: message to people where they've be in Southeast Queensland or
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  Speaker 1: northern New South Wales is we are there to support you.
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  Speaker 2: We have you all back.
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  Speaker 1: So Australian correspondent Donna Tomayo is with me. Hello, Donna, Hello,
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  Speaker 1: there's just been a statement.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, the latest report from the Bureau of Meteorology has
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  Speaker 2: been released. It was just twenty minutes ago we heard
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  Speaker 2: from them, and we know that Cyclone Alfred is expected
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  Speaker 2: to make landfall tonight or early tomorrow morning and it
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  Speaker 2: is packing wings of around one hundred ks an hour
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  Speaker 2: at the moment, but some areas. In some areas it
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: might reach one hundred and fifty five k's per hour,
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  Speaker 2: and about eight hundred millimeters of rain is forecast.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Yes, there's sort of surges because the high tides at
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: an awkward time, and so there's the likelihood of flooding
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  Speaker 1: and low lying coastal land.
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  Speaker 2: Have people evacuated, Yes, the first evacuations have been ordered
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  Speaker 2: in some areas you mentioned. These high tides have actually
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  Speaker 2: occurred already, these enormous surges, they're called king tides in fact,
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  Speaker 2: or monster tides. In one area, twelve meter waves were
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: seen on the Gold Coast at a place called Main Beach,
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  Speaker 2: and there's been some close calls. A number of people
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  Speaker 2: in these beach goers and surfers have been caught in
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  Speaker 2: these sudden rising tides. And now we know that a
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  Speaker 2: couple of people have already been taken to hospital because
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  Speaker 2: they got injured as they got swept out in surf.
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  Speaker 2: But thankfully there's been no fertilities, no tragedies, and hopefully
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  Speaker 2: that stays that way.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: So what's going to happen? I mean, I'm reading that
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  Speaker 1: the thing has slowed down and everyone's going, well, if
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: it's sitting out there out in the water, it's just
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  Speaker 1: going to get more powerful. You know, winners are going
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  Speaker 1: to hit and what's going to happen.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I mean in the lead up, some people are saying, well,
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  Speaker 2: thankfully the slowing down of the cyclone means they've got
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  Speaker 2: more time to prepare. But I mean, imagine the anxiety
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  Speaker 2: waiting for this to hit. It's the first time that
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  Speaker 2: this area has been struck or has had a cyclone
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  Speaker 2: hit a landfall since nineteen seventy four. There's department stores,
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  Speaker 2: coal stores, I should say it closed across Queensland. Major
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  Speaker 2: airlines have stopped flights. There's about a thousand schools that
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: have closed down, public transports shut down, and as we mentioned,
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  Speaker 2: there's some power. Some areas have no power. The trees
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: have already started falling and that impacts power lines. Of course,
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  Speaker 2: so torrential rain is coming and we know that authorities
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  Speaker 2: are saying do not underestimate this storm.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Well, okay, thank you Donald Demayo reporting out of Australia. Meanwhile,
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  Speaker 1: there has been some cyclone damage and I don't want
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  Speaker 1: to make light of things, but this is relatively entertaining
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  Speaker 1: the Berlina big prawn has been hit. This is a
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  Speaker 1: very big prawn and Billina. It's built in nineteen eighty nine.
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  Speaker 1: It's nine meters high. This prawn weighs thirty five ton
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  Speaker 1: and it's lost its feathers. The feathers have been blown
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  Speaker 1: off by the wind. The big prawn has actually been
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  Speaker 1: used as a landmark for residents to meet and collect
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  Speaker 1: sandbags during the preparations for Alfred. And they're looking up
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  Speaker 1: at there's big prawn and it's lost its feel. For
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: more from early edition with Ryan Bridge.
• 3:39
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• 3:43
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