Subscribe and set 🔔 » https://7news.link/YTSubscribe |
For the latest Australian news and breaking news alerts, connect with 7NEWS online:
Visit » https://7news.com.au
7NEWS Podcast » http://smarturl.it/7NewsDaily
Facebook » https://www.facebook.com/7NewsAustralia
Twitter » https://twitter.com/7NewsAustralia
Instagram » https://www.instagram.com/7newsaustralia/
7NEWS combines the trusted and powerful news brands including Sunrise, The Morning Show, The Latest, and 7NEWS.com.au, delivering unique, engaging and continuous coverage on the issues that matter most to Australians. Watch 7 News Australia full broadcasts and full episodes nightly at 6pm and weekdays at 11:30am and 4pm on Channel 7 and 7plus.
#BREAKINGNEWS #7NEWS
For the latest Australian news and breaking news alerts, connect with 7NEWS online:
Visit » https://7news.com.au
7NEWS Podcast » http://smarturl.it/7NewsDaily
Facebook » https://www.facebook.com/7NewsAustralia
Twitter » https://twitter.com/7NewsAustralia
Instagram » https://www.instagram.com/7newsaustralia/
7NEWS combines the trusted and powerful news brands including Sunrise, The Morning Show, The Latest, and 7NEWS.com.au, delivering unique, engaging and continuous coverage on the issues that matter most to Australians. Watch 7 News Australia full broadcasts and full episodes nightly at 6pm and weekdays at 11:30am and 4pm on Channel 7 and 7plus.
#BREAKINGNEWS #7NEWS
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Welcome to our special coverage of the approaching tropical cyclone Alfred. I'm
00:05Amelia Brace in the 7 News headquarters. And I'm Angela Cox on the ground in
00:11Byron Bay right now. We've got a bit of a reprieve from the rain. The wind is
00:15picking up and the sea looks very angry. Together Amelia and I will have
00:19everything you need to know about the storm bearing down on northern New South
00:23Wales as well as the other top stories of the day. It's just after 4 p.m.
00:28Here's what we know about tropical cyclone Alfred. The latest modelling
00:32has Alfred making landfall on Saturday morning as a category two system. More
00:38than 900 schools are closed across two states and supermarkets have just shut
00:43their doors in southeast Queensland. There is a major flood warning in place
00:48for Lismore and our defence forces are among those on standby to help with
00:53recovery efforts. Let's go straight to Lismore now, a city once again facing
00:57the prospect of significant flooding. Angelique Opie is there for us. Angel,
01:02there are widespread evacuation orders in place this afternoon.
01:08And at this stage there are more than 20 alerts to prepare to evacuate right
01:12across northern New South Wales. The S. E. S. Regularly updating its website as
01:17this situation is evolving rapidly. One of the main streets here in Lismore is
01:23practically a ghost town. There are so few businesses open. Both the nearby
01:28Aldi and Woolworth stores have shut to the message is to urgently prepare your
01:33homes today and if you cannot leave and leave by tomorrow, we've heard from some
01:38extraordinarily resilient residents today. One who survived the last 2022
01:43flood works in a pharmacy nearby that will be open until the 11th hour to
01:48provide urgent medication to locals. That is just some of the community
01:52spirit we're seeing here. Let's take a listen to the premier on how the
01:56residents are helping each other out.
01:59Hurricane Alfred is behaving at the moment like a completely unwanted house
02:05guest. It's told us that it's going to be late but linger even longer and
02:09unfortunately that means the window for destruction in our community, heavy
02:14rains, winds, powerful surf is longer than we would have otherwise liked. As a
02:19result of that, we're going to need the local community. We're going to be
02:22leaning on the local community, this resilient, tough, defiant community in
02:27the northern rivers to do their bit.
02:30There are also multiple evacuation centres that have been set up while
02:34residents are prepared. So are emergency services. Cyclone Alfred is
02:39unpredictable and those here in Lismore are just bracing for the worst.
02:45Yeah, a really tense time for them. Thank you, Angel. Deb Platts, Deputy
02:50Commissioner of the State Emergency Service joins us now from SES
02:53headquarters in Wollongong. Thank you for joining us, Deb. I know it's very
02:57busy for you and thank you to your volunteers. They're doing such crucial
03:00work. Now, just hours to go now before this cyclone potentially makes landfall.
03:04Are your teams ready?
03:08Absolutely, we are ready. The only benefit of this cyclone has been that
03:13we've had a very lengthy period that we've been able to plan for this event.
03:17So we've been able to pre-position our staff and our amazing 2,000
03:22volunteers that have been helping out over the past few days and will
03:25continue to do so. Plus all our emergency service partners who are also
03:30up in the northern rivers area ready and able to assist us when this cyclone
03:35does eventually make landfall. However, we are already seeing, as you have
03:40been reporting, significant rainfall. So 300 millimetres of rain has fallen
03:45in Dorrigo and just over 200 millimetres of rain in Mullumbimby.
03:50This has brought down trees already. We are seeing a lot of beach erosion and
03:54so we are really urging with people to please be prepared.
04:00This cyclone is obviously taking a little bit longer than people expected
04:03to make landfall, but it's still, from all the modelling, it seems to be that
04:07it's going to be extremely dangerous when it does cross. What additional
04:10resources are being deployed?
04:15So we have already pre-deployed all of the resources that we have available
04:20that we do believe will be needed for the response phase of this event. So as
04:27I mentioned, over 2,000 volunteers are in the area. We have significant
04:31numbers of staff from all emergency service partners, but we also have
04:36significant resources, so high clearance vehicles to be able to do resupply
04:41and rescue people should we need to, significant amount of boats and other
04:46equipment that will help to protect the community. Can I just say, though, for
04:51the people who are in these areas that are going to be highly impacted, please
04:56keep abreast of the alerts. This is very dynamic and things are changing all
05:00the time. We currently have 74 warnings that are out. Of those, 36 are a
05:05Watch and Act and many of those are Prepare to Evacuate. So if you're in
05:10those areas, if you are safe and you are prepared and your homes are prepared,
05:15please stay inside unless asked to evacuate. But if you are feeling unsafe
05:20in any of those areas, please relocate to family and friends outside of the
05:26impacted area. If you can't do that, then we have 15 evacuation centres that are
05:31open across the Northern Rivers, Tweed, Byron areas. Obviously when you have to
05:37perform rescues, it puts your volunteers and staff in danger as well.
05:40What are the common mistakes people make in these situations? Is it complacency?
05:48Well, people make a whole range of mistakes, sometimes because they're
05:53anxious. So the best way to overcome anxiousness in these events is actually
05:57to be very well prepared. Have your homes prepared, have a plan, check on
06:01your neighbours and friends, all those sorts of things, and keep connected to
06:05the warnings. What else we know now is that there's about 11,700 dwellings that
06:13are in these areas that we're asking to prepare to evacuate. That's a lot of
06:19people. We need you to do this early. We can't have you evacuating during the
06:25winds, when the winds do pick up, because it's going to be extremely dangerous.
06:29It's going to be dangerous for our rescue operators and all of our
06:33volunteers that are out there trying to keep the community safe.
06:37And just finally, how do you think this storm is likely to compare to previous
06:41floods and disasters across northern New South Wales?
06:47The problem with cyclones is they are very unpredictable. Until the rain
06:51really starts to fall from the flank of the cyclone, it will be difficult to
06:56know how the rivers and the soil will react to the precipitation. But what we
07:01do know from the Bureau of Meteorology is they are forecasting significant
07:06rainfalls, could be up to 700 millimetres, and that this is a similar type of
07:12rainfall to what the Northern River saw in 2017 and 2022.
07:20We don't want to see that again. Thank you so much for your time, Deb. I know
07:23you're busy.
07:25Brisbane is right now expecting to bear the full force of Alfred when it hits.
07:30Let's go live now to Marlena Warp in the Queensland capital. Marlena, Premier
07:34David Christofferli has given an update on when it's going to make landfall.
07:42Yeah, good afternoon, Ange. It's now expected to make landfall by the early
07:46hours of Saturday morning. Yesterday, we were thinking it was going to be
07:50later tonight, but that's how quickly things are changing. So by the early
07:55hours of Saturday morning, the system could then hover over the Queensland
07:59coast for up to six hours, bringing destructive winds and heavy rainfall,
08:04flash flooding and rapid river rises. So now our emergency crews are planning
08:10for that scenario. We've already had reports this afternoon of wind gusts of
08:16up to 96 kilometres an hour at Cape Morton and on the Gold Coast Seaway
08:20this afternoon, 80 kilometres an hour. Now, bear in mind the system is still
08:24240 kilometres off the coast, so it gives you a sign of what's to come.
08:30Let's have a listen now to the Premier.
08:33It remains as a Category 2 and obviously we have seen the delay in the system
08:40heading towards the coast. Literally in the last few minutes, we've been updated
08:44that that could now push into Saturday morning. So if we just unpack where
08:48we've been, we overnight saw the system spin around on itself and then it has
08:54resumed its journey into the coast. So exactly where it will hit and when
09:00still remains unknown.
09:05We've already seen some widespread power outages across the southeast and
09:10energy crews are working quickly to restore that. We have more than a
09:14thousand schools closed. Some supermarkets will start closing this
09:18afternoon as well as petrol stations as well. The last of the fuel tankers are
09:22filling up at those service stations and then they'll stop because of the high
09:27winds and the danger expected from that. And at the airport, a bit of chaos and
09:32confusion this afternoon and with lots of flight cancellations. Some people
09:37were planning to fly to New South Wales and now they'll have to ride out Cyclone
09:41Alfred.
09:42Okay, thanks so much, Marlena. Let's get the latest now on Alfred with Amber
09:48Laidler. Amber, Alfred's really keeping everyone guessing. What is the latest?
09:53Good afternoon, Ange. Well, Tropical Cyclone Alfred, as we just heard, is
09:56currently 245 kilometres off Brisbane. It is still a Category 2 system and it's
10:02forecast to maintain that intensity as it continues to approach Queensland's
10:06southeast coast today. The latest estimates have that coastal crossing
10:10taking place somewhere between Noosa and Coolingadda during the early hours
10:14of Saturday and Sunday. But we are expecting to see wind gusts in excess of
10:18100 kilometres an hour off Cape Byron. Since 9am, more than 45 millimetres has
10:24been recorded near Lismore, but we are seeing 24 hourly totals of more than
10:28100 millimetres in areas from Port Macquarie up towards the border.
10:32Warnings for damaging to destructive wind gusts, hazardous surf, a dangerous
10:37storm tide and heavy rainfall are in place on the state's far north coast,
10:41with conditions only set to intensify as that system tracks closer to land. We
10:47will start to see some of the effects of that system here in Sydney during the
10:50weekend, that rain extending down the state's east coast. We'll have more
10:54details coming up in your full forecast soon, Ange.
10:58Okay, thank you, Amber. Now, councillors in the path of Tropical Cyclone Alfred
11:02can now benefit from Commonwealth recovery grants. Political reporter Tim
11:06Lester is in Canberra, where the Prime Minister visited the National Situation
11:10Room for a storm briefing this morning. Tim, what did Anthony Albanese have to
11:15say? Well, Ange, he had plenty to say about putting government funding into
11:19the storm zone and virtually nothing to say about how Alfred might wreck his
11:25plans for an election timetable. We'll hear more of that in a second. He went
11:30down to, as you said, the National Emergency Situation Room near
11:34Parliament here in the agency that handles emergency management, was briefed
11:39there for a short period on the situation with the cyclone and then
11:44spoke about it, particularly emphasising money that the government wants to, or
11:50is now, getting flowing to local councils in the area. For the early
11:57recovery grants of a million dollars for affected councils, I'll sign off on
12:02those at Parliament House immediately this finishes and that money will be on
12:07its way. We have activated the Australian Government Disaster Response Plan, a
12:12crisis coordination team which will operate out of here. I intend operating
12:17out of here for coming days is probably the best place I can be to make sure
12:24that there is seamless activity between New South Wales and Queensland. There
12:29had been a growing sense here in recent days that Anthony Albanese would call
12:33this year's federal election for April 12th. The deadline to do that is Monday
12:38night and most were forecasting perhaps Sunday or Monday for firing the starting
12:43gun on the campaign. Well, today there is a growing sense here that if this
12:49storm is as bad as many expect it to be, it will simply be untenable for the
12:55election to be held so soon and it would force a delay in the campaign out
13:00to May. We will know in a couple of days, Ange.
13:04Okay, thanks so much, Tim. Now, Amelia, that is all from us from Byron Bay for
13:11the moment. I can confirm Alfred really is being unpredictable. 30 minutes ago it
13:15was howling with rain here coming in sideways and now it's relatively calm
13:20but we're still getting those gusts of wind. We will have more on our special
13:24coverage of tropical cyclone Alfred throughout the program.
13:27Great, thanks, Ange.