Thousands of Aussies have been told to hunker down or urgently evacuate their homes as Cyclone Alfred closes in on the mainland.
The category two system is expected to cross over the Moreton Bay Islands on Saturday morning before crossing the mainland between Noosa and Beenleigh.
In NSW, thousands of residents in Lismore were told to evacuate their homes by 9pm on Thursday or risk having their escape routes cut off by floodwaters.
Those in low-lying areas of New Brighton on the NSW Mid North Coast were told to urgently evacuate at 10.30am on Friday.
The message was the same for residents in Nambucca Heads who were told to leave by 8am, with an evacuation centre set up on Nelson Road.
More than 20 evacuation orders were issued on Thursday afternoon and into the evening for parts of Port Macquarie, Kyogle, Tumbelgum, Coraki and other towns.
The NSW State Emergency Service advised residents in 11 areas in northern NSW to evacuate before 9pm on Thursday night, including Lismore.
Residents in Billinudgel, Fingal Head, Uki, Bowraville and Macksville were told to leave while residents in the Northern Rivers region were urged to urged to stay inside.
In Port Macquarie, residents near the Hastings River along North Shore and Settlement Point were until 1am on Thursday to evacuate.
There were two SES rescues overnight after people drove into floodwaters and almost 2,000 calls to the service.
A cyclone ‘Watch and Act’ continues for the Gold Coast.
Residents in Pinkenba, Hemmant, Lytton and those between Brighton and Nudgee Beach have been told to evacuate.
Major flood warnings have been issued for the Tweed River on the NSW-Queensland border and Brunswick and Nambucca rivers in south Queensland.
More than 43,000 homes and businesses have been left in darkness in NSW with the largest impacts for residents between Tweed Heads and Yamba.
In Queensland, up to 28,000 homes and businesses were without power as of Friday morning in the Gold Coast area, Redland City and Scenic Rim.
Energex said crews were unable to conduct repairs due to the dangers associated with the cyclone and warned outages could last for a week.
Queensland Premier David Crisafulli is urging millions of residents across the state’s southeast to finalise their plans and either bunker down now or evacuate before Cyclone Alfred hits and it’s too late.
‘If you are in a storm tide zone, or in an area where you know there is riverine flooding, you really need to consider and think about your evacuation now.’
There are 20,000 homes in Brisbane at risk of flooding, with an additional 6,000 homes at risk on the Gold Coast, local council modelling shows.
Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has urged residents in these areas to evacuate.
‘These 20,000 properties could experience anything from minor inundation in their yards to significant flooding inside homes.’
The suburbs of Brighton, Windsor, Ashgrove, Morningside, Rocklea, Coopers Plains, Carina, Sandgate, Hemmant, Lota, Tingalpa, Indooroopilly, Albion, Bardon and Wynnum West are most at risk.
In the Gold Coast, the suburbs most at risk from are Surfers Paradise, Paradise Point and Elanora.