SYDNEY: Cyclone Alfred stalled off Australia’s east coast on Thursday as officials shut airports, schools and public transport while residents stockpiled supplies and sandbagged homes against flooding expected when the category-two storm hits.
The storm is now likely to make landfall by Saturday morning near Brisbane, Australia’s third-most populous city, the Bureau of Meteorology said in its latest update, compared with a prior projection of landfall by early Friday.
The storm’s destructive reach will stretch across the border regions of the states of Queensland and New South Wales, the bureau said, bringing heavy rain, flooding and damaging wind.
“Alfred is behaving at the moment like a completely unwanted houseguest. It’s told us it’s going to be late but linger even longer,” New South Wales Premier Chris Minns told reporters.
“Unfortunately that means the window for destruction in our community – heavy rains, winds, powerful surf – is longer than we would have otherwise liked.”
Storm warnings on Thursday stretched for more than 500km across the northeast coast, as huge waves whipped up by the cyclone eroded beaches, and officials urged residents in flood-prone areas to evacuate soon.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the defense force would be ready to support emergency services.
Heavy rain from the weather system has already drenched some regions, said Dean Narramore, forecaster at Australia’s weather bureau.
Narramore said the cyclone’s stalling could result in “a longer and prolonged period of heavy rainfall, particularly in northern New South Wales” leading to life-threatening flash flooding.
New South Wales resident Sara Robertson and her family has moved all their valuables from their home in the rural town of Murwillumbah to a motel ahead of the storm.
“I’m glad we’ve got a little bit more of a breather, feeling very tired today and we still have a lot to do,” Robertson told ABC News after moving computers and electronics into the motel.
More than 5,000 properties in southeast Queensland and thousands in northern New South Wales are without power as officials warned there would be more outages when the wind speed increases.
Brisbane airport said it will suspend operations around 4 p.m. (0600 GMT) on Thursday but keep its terminals open for defense operations.
Qantas Airways said its international operations from Brisbane would remain suspended until Saturday noon and domestic flights until Sunday morning.
More than 1,000 schools in southeast Queensland and 250 in northern New South Wales were closed on Thursday, while public transport in Brisbane has been suspended.
Alfred has been called by officials a “very rare event” for Brisbane, Queensland’s state capital, with the city last hit by a cyclone more than half a century ago in 1974. The city of around 2.7 million had near misses from cyclones in 1990 in 2019.
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Cyclone Alfred stalls off Australia’s east as millions brace for impact
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Cyclone Alfred stalls off Australia’s east as millions brace for impact
- Cyclone Alfred is now likely to make landfall by Saturday morning near Brisbane, Australia’s third-most populous city
- The storm’s destructive reach will stretch across the border regions of the states of Queensland and New South Wales
Death toll climbs after trash site collapse buries dozens in Philippines
MANILA: Hard hat-wearing rescue workers and backhoes dug through rubble in search of survivors on Saturday in the shadow of a mountain of garbage that buried dozens of landfill employees in the central Philippines, killing at least four.
About 50 sanitation workers were buried when refuse toppled onto them Thursday from what a city councillor estimated was a height of 20 storys at the Binaliw Landfill, a privately operated facility in Cebu City.
Rescuers were now facing the danger of further collapse as they navigated the wreckage, Cebu rescuer Jo Reyes told AFP on Saturday.
“Operations are ongoing as of the moment. It is continuous. (But) from time to time, the landfill is moving, and that will temporarily stop the operation,” she said.
“We have to stop for a while for the safety of our rescuers.”
Information from the disaster site has been emerging slowly, with city employees citing the lack of signal from the dumpsite, which serviced Cebu and other surrounding communities.
Joel Garganera, a Cebu City council member, told AFP that as of 10:00 am (0200 GMT), the death toll from the disaster had climbed to four, with 34 still missing.
“The four casualties were inside the facility when it happened... They have these staff houses inside where most people who were buried stayed,” he said.
“It’s very difficult on the part of the rescuers, because there are really heavy (pieces of steel), and every now and then, the garbage is moving because of the weight from above,” Garganera said.
“We are hoping against hope here and praying for miracles,” he said when asked about the timeline for rescue efforts.
“We cannot just jump to the retrieval (of bodies), because there are a lot of family members who are within the property waiting for any positive result.”
At least 12 employees have so far been pulled alive from the garbage and hospitalized.
- ‘Alarming’ height -
“Every now and then when it rains, there are landslides happening around the city of Cebu ... how much more (dangerous is that) for a landfill or a mountain that is made of garbage?” Garganera said in a phone call with AFP.
“The garbage is like a sponge, they really absorb water. It doesn’t (take) a rocket scientist to say that eventually, the incident will happen.”
Garganera described the height from which the trash fell as “alarming,” estimating the top of the pile had stood 20 storys above the area struck.
Drivers had long complained about the dangers of navigating the steep road to the top, he added.
Photos released by police on Friday showed a massive mound of trash atop a hill directly behind buildings that a city information officer had told AFP also contained administrative offices.
Garganera noted that the disaster was a “sad, double whammy” for the city, as the facility was the “lone service provider” for Cebu and adjacent communities.
The landfill “processes 1,000 tons of municipal solid waste daily,” according to the website of its operator, Prime Integrated Waste Solutions.
Calls and emails to the company have so far gone unreturned.
Rita Cogay, who operates a compactor at the site, told AFP on Friday she had stepped outside to get a drink of water just moments before the building she had been in was crushed.
“I thought a helicopter had crashed. But when I turned, it was the garbage and the building coming down,” the 49-year-old said.
About 50 sanitation workers were buried when refuse toppled onto them Thursday from what a city councillor estimated was a height of 20 storys at the Binaliw Landfill, a privately operated facility in Cebu City.
Rescuers were now facing the danger of further collapse as they navigated the wreckage, Cebu rescuer Jo Reyes told AFP on Saturday.
“Operations are ongoing as of the moment. It is continuous. (But) from time to time, the landfill is moving, and that will temporarily stop the operation,” she said.
“We have to stop for a while for the safety of our rescuers.”
Information from the disaster site has been emerging slowly, with city employees citing the lack of signal from the dumpsite, which serviced Cebu and other surrounding communities.
Joel Garganera, a Cebu City council member, told AFP that as of 10:00 am (0200 GMT), the death toll from the disaster had climbed to four, with 34 still missing.
“The four casualties were inside the facility when it happened... They have these staff houses inside where most people who were buried stayed,” he said.
“It’s very difficult on the part of the rescuers, because there are really heavy (pieces of steel), and every now and then, the garbage is moving because of the weight from above,” Garganera said.
“We are hoping against hope here and praying for miracles,” he said when asked about the timeline for rescue efforts.
“We cannot just jump to the retrieval (of bodies), because there are a lot of family members who are within the property waiting for any positive result.”
At least 12 employees have so far been pulled alive from the garbage and hospitalized.
- ‘Alarming’ height -
“Every now and then when it rains, there are landslides happening around the city of Cebu ... how much more (dangerous is that) for a landfill or a mountain that is made of garbage?” Garganera said in a phone call with AFP.
“The garbage is like a sponge, they really absorb water. It doesn’t (take) a rocket scientist to say that eventually, the incident will happen.”
Garganera described the height from which the trash fell as “alarming,” estimating the top of the pile had stood 20 storys above the area struck.
Drivers had long complained about the dangers of navigating the steep road to the top, he added.
Photos released by police on Friday showed a massive mound of trash atop a hill directly behind buildings that a city information officer had told AFP also contained administrative offices.
Garganera noted that the disaster was a “sad, double whammy” for the city, as the facility was the “lone service provider” for Cebu and adjacent communities.
The landfill “processes 1,000 tons of municipal solid waste daily,” according to the website of its operator, Prime Integrated Waste Solutions.
Calls and emails to the company have so far gone unreturned.
Rita Cogay, who operates a compactor at the site, told AFP on Friday she had stepped outside to get a drink of water just moments before the building she had been in was crushed.
“I thought a helicopter had crashed. But when I turned, it was the garbage and the building coming down,” the 49-year-old said.
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