People rescued near Bellingen; thousands of insurance claims lodged after Cyclone Alfred – as it happened

7.26am GMT

Summary

We will be closing the live blog for the evening here. This is what made the news today:

• Heavy rain is expected as a result of ex-Cyclone Alfred in northern NSW and south-east Queensland heading into Monday.

• Flood warnings remain in place for eight locations in south-east Queensland, after flash flooding hit Brisbane and the Fraser coast on Sunday. Flood warnings are in place for 11 rivers in northern NSW.

• The NSW State Emergency Service has responded to more than 6,000 calls for help. There have been more than a dozen rescues in Queensland and NSW of people trapped by rising waters on properties or in cars.

• Evacuation orders have lifted for central Lismore, with residents advised to return home cautiously.

• The Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, said some schools that were damaged or without power would remain closed tomorrow and advised parents and carers to check tonight for the latest information.

• Naplan tests in affected schools will not run on Wednesday but will be held on Monday, 17 March.

• Bus services in Brisbane were paused today. A number of public transport services in south-east Queensland will run to a Sunday timetable tomorrow, except services on the Gold Coast which will not run.

• Almost 300,000 properties in northern NSW and south-east Queensland remain without power after the storms, with 272,905 in Queensland, 16,000 in NSW.

• In Queensland, full restoration of power could take a week, with more than 1,000 power lines down.

• 164 Telstra mobile sites remain down, 268 Optus mobile sites are down, and more than 250,000 NBN services are offline.

• Twelve ADF officers are in hospital after a crash near Lismore on Saturday. The defence minister, Richard Marles, has defended the government using the ADF in its response to the cyclone.

• WA premier Roger Cook has welcomed Labor’s “emphatic victory” in the state election, with the party returned to government for a third term.

Until tomorrow, stay safe.

Updated at 7.40am GMT

7.10am GMT

Here is a run-through from BoM on the weather in Queensland until tomorrow morning. Lots of rain.

As the remnants of ex-Tropical #CycloneAlfred move over inland southern #Qld, heavy rain and damaging winds continue to be a risk.

Heavy rainfall is also a possibility for parts of northern #NSW.

Latest: https://t.co/4W35o8i7wJ pic.twitter.com/FNcBYaZJM1

— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) March 9, 2025

Updated at 7.11am GMT