GOLD COAST (AFP) – An “erratic” tropical cyclone lingered off Australia’s eastern coast yesterday, bringing drenching rains and record-breaking waves to a heavily populated region rarely hit by typhoons.
Tropical Cyclone Alfred was 250 kilometres (km) east of busy Brisbane city yesterday afternoon, but government forecasts warned its slow and “erratic” crawl towards the mainland was growing difficult to predict.
Some four million people were in the firing line along a 400km stretch of coastline expected to see the worst of the storm. “We’re already seeing gales developing on the coastal fringe,” Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Sarah Scully told AFP.
“There have been very large waves and powerful swells. That’s generated by Alfred lingering in the Coral Sea and creating a whole lot of wave energy.” A 12.4-metre wave was recorded on the Gold Coast south of Brisbane, the largest swell ever picked up by that monitoring station.
Daring surfers paddled out to catch the supercharged waves, ignoring the threat of USD10,000 fines for “reckless behaviour”.
“I am just staggered that people would be so stupid. It is a huge act of stupidity,” said acting Gold Coast mayor Donna Gates.
Alfred was initially forecast to strike land late yesterday evening.
But the slow-moving storm – churning towards the coast at just 7km/hr – was now more likely to make landfall later today or early tomorrow.
