Just wanted to wish good luck and safety for those of us affected by hurricane Alfred. @Crookie and @ziggy I was planning on reaching out this week to get together but Alfred had other plans. We’re in Brisbane at the moment near North Boondall station petsitting for a dog and have decided to shelter in place. Hope you guys stay safe and either prepared or have evacuated. Fingers crossed 
for the next 36 hours. We have our extra drinking water ready to go just in case there’s a problem with the water system
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I have been thinking about you a lot @IHeartAnimals and wondering if you were still in Brisbane. This is definitely a terrible situation but hopefully it will all be over soon. I think we are all now just thinking, “just hit and let us move on for goodness sake”! 
I am on the Gold Coast so am getting it pretty bad and have had no power for 24 hours now, just got internet like an hour ago 
Everything in my fridge/freezer will need to be thrown away now, all defrosted and going warm so in the bin it goes. I’ve been through a couple of these before and survived so I know I’ll be ok personally. If anything happens up your way, just stay in the bathroom which is the safest place to be, I’m sure you already know that 
I hope it’s all over soon and you get to enjoy Brisbane and surrounds as much as you can, though there will be a lot of damage and clean ups to do for a lot of people. Hopefully you can get to Australia Zoo as you are a lot closer to there being at Boondall.
Take care, thanks for thinking of us, and I will definitely be thinking of you guys to. Take care and stay safe 
This is how this cyclone has changed direction and movement over a week 
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Hi @IHeartAnimals, welcome to summer in Queensland (even though it’s now autumn)! People who don’t live here always think I’m joking when I say that every summer Queensland spins the roulette wheel of natural disasters as it’s always one or more of cyclone, floods, bushfires, drought or destructive storms. Where I am at Scarborough is the current bullseye for Alfred’s crossing land.
@ziggy will know exactly what I mean about the roulette wheel. Sorry to hear you are being smashed in the Tweed area.
@IHeartAnimals it looks like you have done the required preparation for SE Qld’s first cyclone in 50 years! Keep tuned in to ABC radio & TV for all the latest updates & keep safe as the next 24 hours will be full on. Please reach out if I can help.
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To all those up in northern NSW and south east Queensland, keep safe as we southerners are thinking of you. Alfred is keeping you on your toes by slowing down.
I have family on the Gold Coast so am anxious about them. 
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@temba so glad you dodged this bullet xo
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I’m glad too @ Crookie but your property would have been in safe hands with me
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@Crookie I guess we get to live through some Australian history.
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@ziggy sorry to hear about the power outage. That sucks that you have to throw out your food. The dog we are watching gets specially delivered frozen food so I adjusted the freezer temp yesterday to colder setting just in case power goes out. Stay safe.
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Good plan @IHeartAnimals, chances are pretty high that you will lose power at some point unfortunately, name of the game when this happens.
You are definitely living through an historical event, I remember the last one way back in the day and they aren’t pleasant.
@Crookie definitely a roulette wheel in Qld, I love the Dorothea McKellar poem I Love a Sunburnt Country, it depicts Australia so well. Stay safe up your way also, all of you
Thanks @temba, as always, you are thinking of others 
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On behalf of the Forum team I just wanted to say that our thoughts are with all of you affected by Cyclone Alfred. We can’t begin to imagine how difficult this must be, and we hope you’re staying as safe as possible.
Please let us know if there’s any way the team can help, whether it’s sharing resources, spreading awareness, or simply offering a sympathetic ear.
PS. I just wanted to share this link about preparing pets for a hurricane - a lot of it relates to advance planning but there may be a few tips for during and afterwards that are useful.
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This is the first I’ve heard about cyclone Alfred, our news being dominated by Trump and Ukraine. Just checked the BBC website and can see nothing. Thinking about all of you affected and hope you get back to normality as soon as possible
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Thanks @Smiley Apparently, there hasn’t been a hurricane like this in 50 years. I guess news goes with what gets ratings.
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Just dropping a link about the cyclone from the BBC news website, hopefully it’ll be accessible for all
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Here’s some local news on TC Alfred - they are called tropical cyclones in the South Pacific, same thing as hurricans but they spin in a clockwise direction, the oppposite to hurricans than spin in an anti-clockwise direction
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I just came back from 11 weeks in Australia (Sydney and Melbourne). Lived there long time ago. All good and quiet on the east coast and in the south, but in that same period Queensland went through what by now seems to be the almost ‘usual’ rollercoaster of massive floods, storms, and so on. One week this area was being battered, two weeks latter that area went underwater, two weeks later the next area experiences… Interestingly enough, I seldom heard anyone in Sydney or Melbourne refer to it. Literally ‘too far out’ for those living 1-2000 km south…
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@Bluehorse they breed us tough in Qld!
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Thank you @Jenny for your very kind thoughts, have had no power or internet to respond before this. We came through relatively unscathed as dear Alfred played games for days until finally making landfall early this morning. Apart from flooding, gale force winds and massive power outages, we survived what should have and could have been a lot worse given the proximity and strength of the cyclone. But as @Crookie says, we are a tough bunch in Queensland and just accept these things as part of life living in Australia.
Thanks to everyone who thought of us also, including Matthew Prior from whom we received heartfelt thoughts.
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@ziggy so glad to hear you are ok. Here on the Redcliffe Peninsula we dodged a bullet overnight and are unscathed. Alfred which is now a tropical low is sitting just north of us near Bribie Island and we still have strong winds. Heavy rain is expected soon. Take care xo
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