(Bloomberg) -- A large swathe of Australia’s east coast is preparing for strong winds and life-threatening flooding from a tropical cyclone that’s forecast to make landfall north of the nation’s third-largest city.
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Cyclone Alfred was about 630 kilometers (391 miles) east of Brisbane city and is expected to turn toward the coast on Tuesday, according to a notice from the Bureau of Meteorology. The storm is forecast to make landfall as a Category 2 system late on Thursday or early Friday, the agency said.
A watch zone is in place for a roughly 550-kilometer stretch from Sandy Cape in Queensland to Grafton in New South Wales, and emergency services in both states have issued cyclone and flood warnings.
Alfred would be the first tropical storm to affect Brisbane since 2017, when the remnants of Cyclone Debbie brought heavy rain and strong winds to the area after wreaking havoc in north Queensland. The city, with a population of more than 2.5 million people, has been selected to host the 2032 Olympic Games.
“The location of landfall will be critical because we are expecting to see the worst of the impact, or the most significant impacts, on the southern flank of the cyclone,” including Brisbane, the Gold Coast, and Northern Rivers in NSW, said Jonathan How, a senior meteorologist at the weather bureau.
Southern Queensland and northern NSW could get rainfall totals of up to 400 millimeters (16 inches) over the next few days, with some places getting as much as 700 millimeters, according to the bureau, posing risks of riverine and flash flooding. The slow-moving storm also means its damaging winds and heavy rains will be sustained over a relatively long period of time.
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The Port of Brisbane suspended arrivals of large vessels on Sunday and expects to be closed on Thursday and Friday, and the city has suspended ferry services. Airports in the region were operating Tuesday, although airlines including Qantas Airways Ltd. and Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd. have offered rebooking options to passengers.
Insurers Suncorp Group Ltd. and Insurance Australia Group Ltd. will be hard hit by losses caused by Alfred, according to Matt Ingram, senior industry analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. In a Tuesday filing providing an update on the cyclone, Suncorp said it “maintains a strong capital position.”