Cyclone Alfred: Flights cancelled as several airports shut due to threat of Category 2 storm in Australia

Several Australian airports on the southeastern coast have closed their terminals while airlines have cancelled flights as a Category 2 cyclone continues to barrel towards the country. The “extremely rare” Tropical Cyclone Alfred is causing severe travel disruption in the country as it draws near to the southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales coast. The area covered by the Cyclone Alfred warning zone stretches approximately 450-500 km along the east coast of Australia, from Double Island Point in Queensland to Ballina in New South Wales. Alfred is forecast to make landfall early Friday between Maroochydore and Coolangatta as a Category 2 cyclone. All flights from Byron Bay’s Ballina airport have been cancelled, and Gold Coast Airport, 55 miles up the coast from Ballina, also closed its terminal at 4pm on Wednesday in response to the cyclone. “The safety of our team, customers and airport is our number one priority,” the airport said. Damaging winds of 120kmph are already hitting Coolangatta and Ballina while gusts up to 155kmph could hit coastal areas as far south as Cape Byron from Thursday afternoon. In a statement on its website, Ballina Byron Gateway Airport said that due to high winds, all flights to and from the airport have been cancelled on Wednesday 5 and Thursday 6 March.<br/>