Towns in the Northern Rivers region of NSW are bracing for the Cyclone Alfred, three years on from the catastrophic floods that devastated the region.
Alfred is on track to make landfall in Brisbane on Thursday evening or Friday, and torrential rain is likely to follow in northern NSW.
It is predicted to bring winds upwards of 120km/h, with some areas expecting upwards of 700mm of rain.
In February 2022, hundreds of Lismore residents were rescued from their rooftops by helicopters and boats as the northern NSW town was swamped by the worst flood in living memory.
The Northern Rivers Hotel in North Lismore just recently reopened after sustaining massive damaged in the 2022 floods is now preparing for Cyclone Alfred.
‘Obviously there’s a little bit of angst in the area, just unsure what’s going to happen,’ hotel manager Britney Gwynne told the ABC.
‘It’s a little bit nerve-racking for (locals) at the moment.’
Lismore Mayor Steve Krieg said it was a ‘great unknown’ how severely the city would be impacted, with some residents bracing for the worst.
Several hundreds of millimetres of rain is possible within six hours, which could lead to life threatening flash flooding
A Lismore local uses her poncho raincoat to try to shield her dog from the pelting rain during the devastating 2022 floods
‘That would break many, many people,’ Krieg told Nine.
‘It would be hard to get up and keep going after that.’
Byron Shire council, which is in the cyclone warning zone, has provided locals with hardware for satellite internet service Starlink, to keep them connected if communications go down.
Rebecca McNaught from the South Golden Beach Community Resilience Team said they had learned from the 2022 floods.
‘One of the big issues after 2022 was that we had comms down for a very long time,’ she told ABC North Coast Breakfast.
‘Even if people weren’t flood-affected, they may have had emergencies or the need to access people or information outside of our communities.’
Backpackers in the popular tourist town Byron Bay said they have been getting calls from worried loved ones in their home countries.
Belgian women Charlotte Molema and Emma Tissot Fravre arrived in Australia just a few weeks ago.
A police officer helps a child off a rescue boat with NSW Police working alongside SES rescue teams and the military in February 2022
The SES is leading the response and working with other emergency services and government agencies
A emergency services worker makes final preparations on her truck before leaving Sydney for northern NSW
Ms Molema said their parents are ‘very worried’ and want them to move south, out of harm’s way.
‘It’s a beautiful place to be, but with the weather we were at first scared, but I think it’s very impressive to see what’s happening with like a cyclone right now,’ she said.
‘But of course we’re a bit lost as many other tourists (are) at the moment.’
Supermarket shelves in the region have been stripped as locals stocked up before Cyclone Alfred hits.
Lismore MP Janelle Saffin urged people to only buy what they need for 72 hours so that everyone can get enough.
‘We’re seeing empty shelves. Get your basic needs … and leave some on the shelves for others.’
SES incident commander Joanna Jones said more than 50,000 sandbags had been ordered as the authorities prepare for the worst.
‘Sandbags and the sand is going to be replaced on a regular basis, so if sand has run out, it will be replaced,’ she said.
Dozens of rescue boats are going back and forth from homes around Lismore to higher ground as floodwaters engulfed the town in 2022
People are pictured loading into boats to escape from Lismore after the entire town fell victim to flash flooding in 2022
Paramedics escort a Lismore resident to an ambulance as severe rainfall and thunderstorms thrashed northern NSW three years ago
Additional SES crews began arriving in the Northern Rivers and Mid North Coast on Tuesday.
The SES is leading the response and working with other emergency services and government agencies.
From Wednesday onwards intense rain is predicted, which could lead to moderate and major flooding in many areas, with the potential to close roads, inundate properties and lead to evacuations.
‘Now is the time for residents in the affected areas to get ready for damaging winds, large powerful surf, coastal erosion and intense and heavy rainfall,’ the NSW Emergency Services minister Jihad Dib said.
‘We are asking the community to take steps now to ensure that if you are asked to evacuate your home you have a plan for this and know where you will go.’
North Coast minister Rose Jackson said: ‘The Northern Rivers community is strong and resilient, but we know this weather event is causing a real concern.
We assure the community – emergency services are on the ground and ready to help.’
As of 5am on Wednesday, Alfred was tracking as a category two system about 465km east of Brisbane and 430km off the Gold Coast, the Bureau of Meteorology confirmed.