1 dead, several injured as Cyclone Alfred tracks west across Australian east coast

Tropical Cyclone Alfred weakens to a tropical low, causing flooding and injuries in Queensland and New South Wales.

Flooding rains will continue for days to lash a region of the Australian east coast even though it avoided the destructive winds of its first tropical cyclone in 51 years, officials said on Saturday (March 8, 2025). One person was confirmed dead and several were injured.

Tropical Cyclone Alfred had been expected to become the first cyclone to cross the Australian coast near the Queensland state capital, Brisbane, Australia's third-most populous city, since 1974.

But it weakened Saturday to a tropical low, which is defined as carrying sustained winds of less than 63 kph (39 mph), then came to a near-standstill off the Brisbane coast for several hours.

The cyclone's remnant is forecast to track west across the Australian mainland in the coming days bringing heavy rain, Bureau of Meteorology manager Matt Collopy said.

“The real threat now is from that locally heavy-to-intense rainfall, which may lead to flash and riverine flooding,” Collopy told reporters.

Cyclones are common in Queensland's tropical north but are rare in the state's temperate and densely populated southeast corner that borders New South Wales state.

A 61-year-old man who disappeared in a flooded river near the New South Wales town of Dorrigo was confirmed the first casualty of the crisis when his body was recovered on Saturday, police said.