Australia Weather News

Wild surf and severe winds are battering the Queensland coast as Tropical Cyclone Alfred remains a slow-moving threat offshore.

Still well out to sea, the cyclone was overnight classified as a severe category four system for the second time this week, then downgraded to a severe category three early on Saturday. 

Senior Meteorologist Jonathan How said Alfred was 600km east of Mackay and 600km north-east of Rockhampton. 

"For the rest of today it will continue to move in a south-to-southwest direction as a severe category three system, but then Sunday it is forecast to turn again, this time towards the south-east as a category two system," Mr How said.

"Then by Sunday night it is expected to be well east of Rockhampton."

Marine warnings for strong-to-gale force winds are in place from Mackay to the New South Wales border.

Mr How said observations from Frederic Reef showed Alfred had sustained winds of 155kph at its centre with gusts of 220kph.

The bureau has also issued a coastal hazard warning for abnormally high tides and damaging surf from Seventeen Seventy to Coolangatta.

Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service is urging visitors to stay away from K'gari, formerly known as Fraser Island. People were evacuated from Great Keppel Island on Thursday.

Some beaches may be closed this weekend.

The Bureau of Meteorology expects Alfred to continue moving south-east on Monday and Tuesday.

"By that point it looks to be well offshore, well east of K'gari (Fraser Island) and the Sunshine Coast," he said.

High slowing Alfred's move south

From Wednesday, there was a "broad range" of possibilities for which direction Alfred could move. 

Mr How said tropical cyclones would generally move quickly and dissipate once they moved into the southern Coral Sea, but Alfred was “meandering”. 

“That's due to a large high-pressure system to the south over the Tasman Sea that’s providing a bit of a block, preventing Alfred from moving down towards New Zealand,” he said.

“Alfred tries to get a bit of move on to the south, but the high-pressure system comes in and goes ‘no, you’re staying there’ so it wobbles back."

He said it was possible the high could "shove Alfred onto the coast" next week. 

'No surfing, no swimming, no boating'

Because Alfred was lingering, it was pushing big swell to the coast, coinciding with high tides, Mr How said. 

"It does mean abnormally high tides which could lead to flooding of some of those coastal foreshores," he said.

Bundaberg police acting inspector Danny Hess said it was vital community members stayed off coastal waters this weekend.

"(The cyclone) is going to cause unwelcome weather conditions, big tides, big surf, a lot of wind close to the coast," he said.

"We want people to stay off the water —  no surfing, no swimming, no boating. We don't want any incidents."

'Horrible conditions. Don't go'

Volunteer Marine Rescue is urging Queenslanders to be prepared and avoid unnecessary risks.

"It's definitely not the weather for offshore recreational boating," state president Graham Kingston said.

"Even (on rivers) with the king tide you'll get a much stronger run and, with the wind and the tide together, anchoring can be quite problematic."

He said monitoring the weather forecast was important to staying safe.

"If it's horrible conditions, don't go," he said.

"Put it off for another day."

SES crews across the state have opened sandbagging centres to help residents prepare.

Gold Coast acting major Donna Gates said high tides would bring an increased risk of flooding on Saturday.

"There's going to likely be erosion and there could be local flash flooding in low lying areas," she said.

"For that reason, we want people who live on waterways or adjacent to low-lying areas to be prepared (with sandbags)."

At Bargara, near Bundaberg, where strong winds were pushing a heavy swell onto the foreshore, Rick Manuel had opted for a walk instead of his usual swim.

"Not today," he said.

"I reckon (the surf) could push a great white (shark) over those rocks today.

"With a fair swell coming in, it's dragging a lot of rubbish back into the water."