Dozens of people have been rescued from floods in chaos stretching across Brisbane, the Gold Coast and parts of NSW.

Ex-tropical Cyclone Alfred has been downgraded to a tropical low, as it approaches Australia’s eastern coast. Although the speed at which Alfred is travelling has slowed, Brisbane locals have been sent a stark warning of what might be to come.

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’