Cyclone Alfred LIVE updates: BoM warn storm could become category 3 as south-east Queensland, northern NSW residents continue to brace for direct hit

Australia’s biggest airline is considering moving its planes out of Brisbane, as flight cancellations begin.

Brisbane Airport remains open until further notice.

Qantas told this masthead it is closely monitoring conditions, and its local teams are exploring the option of removing aircraft from the city to prevent damage.

“Our teams continue to closely monitor the cyclone and we are contacting customers directly with any changes to their flights,” a spokesperson for the airline said.

“We have proactively cancelled a number of flights today from south-east Queensland. The situation remains fluid and flight cancellations and delays will evolve over the coming days.”

The Gold Coast Airport closed at 4pm Queensland time on Wednesday, but Brisbane Airport remains open.

“As it currently stands, Brisbane Airport is open and operating as usual,” an airport spokesperson said.

“Passengers should speak to their airlines regarding upcoming flights.”

With Cyclone Alfred continuing to bear down, we’ve put together a series of maps that will help you understand the extent of the emergency and whether it will impact your home.

Along with the latest projection of Alfred’s path and the danger areas, there’s a satellite time-lapse of Alfred’s path, the weather bureau’s latest forecast, and the latest government-issued watch and act warnings.

See the four maps here.

Cyclone Alfred could dump almost half a year’s worth of rain over Brisbane in just 24 hours.

Over Thursday and Friday, Brisbane could receive between 200 and 250 millimetres of rain within six hours.

In just 24 hours, Brisbane could receive between 300 millimetres and 400 millimetres of rain – the equivalent to the rain usually seen across the three summer months – in one day.

With the summer being much wetter than the rest of the year, Brisbane’s average yearly rainfall is around 1000 millimetres, meaning Alfred could dump approaching half a year’s worth of rain over the city in a single day.

During the 2022 floods, Brisbane received 1100 millimetres of rain between February 23 and 28, much of which fell over three days to February 27.

Cyclone Wanda, the system behind Brisbane’s historic 1974 floods, drew a monsoonal trough behind her that dumped 642 millimetres of rain over Brisbane in just three days.

The latest tracking map from the Bureau of Meteorology suggests Cyclone Alfred could cross the coast just north of Brisbane.

Community recovery hubs will be set up in the wake of Cyclone Alfred, the premier has announced.

“I want Queenslanders to know that there will be no daylight between the response and the recovery, and the best way that you can guarantee a good recovery is to do the little things now to keep yourself out of harm’s way, and that speeds up the recovery process,” Premier David Crisafulli said.

“But we are already mobilising the councils to be able to go in and respond. We have 1000 Energex crew that are ready to serve, and we have contractors ready to help clean the debris. It is essential that we get power connected as quickly as we can.”

The Queensland premier has announced that the Gold Coast Airport at Coolangatta will close at 4pm today.

There is no word yet on when Brisbane Airport will close, but we will keep you updated.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli has warned the millions of residents in the path of Cyclone Alfred that the category 2 system will cross the coast in the middle of the night, and coincide with a high tide.

He has advised people in the flood zones to make a decision now to evacuate and stay with family or friends, with evacuation centres available as a last resort.

“To the other residents, the vast majority of Queenslanders in this area – this large, populated area in the south-east – the safest place for you is at home, with your family,” he said.

Alfred, which was sitting 335 kilometres east of Brisbane on Wednesday afternoon and moving at 16km/h, is expected to make landfall as a category 2 storm near Brisbane about 2am on Friday.

It is likely to cross the coast about an hour after high tide at 1am on Friday, sparking concerns people living on the coast and in flood zones could face a tide up to half a metre higher than normal.

The weather bureau has warned the system could become a “low end” category 3 before making landfall, but was likely to remain as a category 2.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli is due to give his second press conference for the day at the Kedron emergency services complex shortly.

You can watch his update live, below.