Alfred is forecast to make landfall near Brisbane, the capital of Queensland and Australia’s third largest city.

Millions of residents along Australia’s eastern coast are bracing for the arrival of a very slow-moving storm, the strongest tropical cyclone to threaten the region in more than 50 years. Tropical Cyclone Alfred is expected to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday as a Category 1 cyclone,

Tropical Cyclone Alfred is forecast to make landfall near Brisbane as a Category 2 storm on Friday or Saturday.

Aurimas Mockus, 44, from Lithuania, was stranded for three days in the Coral Sea around 460 miles off Queensland after encountering Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

Australia braced for a rare east coast tropical cyclone that is swirling towards Brisbane, its third-most populous city, with authorities urging residents in flood-prone suburbs to evacuate soon.

Cyclone Alfred is bearing down on south-east Queensland and north-east New South Wales and is now expected to make landfall at Redcliffe, just north of Brisbane. Strong winds and heavy rain are already making an impact.

Residents are stacking sandbags to protect low-lying properties ahead of a tropical cyclone that is forecast to become the first in 51 years to hit the Australian east coast near Brisbane, the nation’s third-most populous city.

But while authorities have been warning residents to stay indoors as Cyclone Alfred approaches, die-hard surfers have been throwing caution to the increasing wind. "This is what we look forward to," said Jeff Weatherall as he waited for a jet ski to pick him up from Kirra beach and carry him into the big waves.