Australians are preparing for a “very rare” cyclone to sweep across the east coast near Brisbane, the country’s third most populated city.
Residents are being told to brace themselves for the “significant risks” Cyclone Alfred poses, which will be the first to hit Southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales for 51 years.
But what is a cyclone, what kind of threat does it pose and what is being done about it?
What is a cyclone?
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm that begins over tropical oceans, which can vary in speed, size, and intensity.
A storm begins being referred to as a cyclone once it reaches maximum sustained winds of 74mph or higher.
A cyclone is the same phenomenon as a typhoon or hurricane, but they are referred to differently depending on where they occur.
The term cyclone is used when the storms occur in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean. They are referred to as typhoons when they appear in the Northwest Pacific and as a hurricane when they appear in the North Atlantic, central North Pacific and eastern North Pacific.
What kind of threat is Cyclone Alfred?
The cyclone was over the Pacific Ocean 250 miles east of Brisbane and tracking west on Wednesday, with sustained winds near the centre of 59mph and gusts up to 81mph.
It is expected to cross the coast between the Queensland state capital Brisbane and the tourist city of Gold Coast to the south late on Thursday or early Friday.
Meteorologists have warned that destructive wind gusts of up to 96mph could develop from Thursday afternoon and tropical cyclone Alfred is expected to land as a rare category-two storm early on Friday morning near Brisbane, Queensland’s capital.
Total rainfall could be as much as 80cm (31.5ins) in some regions – more than the average total for March, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology…
