Cyclone Alfred

Updates

Mar 18, 2025

Late on the night of Friday, March 7, 2025, Cyclone Alfred made landfall on Moreton Island, close to Brisbane on the Australian east coast. The seventh named storm of the Australian cyclone season, Alfred was initially forecast as a full-on tropical cyclone – potentially the first to impact the South East Queensland and New South Wales North Coast regions since 1974. 

However, the storm front spent longer out at sea than expected, eroding its force, and by the time it made landfall, it was downgraded to Category One and ultimately a tropical low. Nonetheless, forecasters still warned of heavy rainfall combined with potentially damaging gusts of up to 120kph (75 mph). With rivers expected to rise rapidly, posing the added threat of flash floods, the Bureau of Meteorology put a number of flood warnings in place. Schools in the region were closed, flights suspended and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese warned people to remain alert – a message reinforced by Queensland Premier David Crisafulli, who advised those in coastal tide zones and potential flood areas actively to consider evacuation.

In the aftermath of the event, there was widespread flooding and unprecedented erosion on the beaches near the Gold Coast. Some 450,000 properties in Queensland were left without power, dozens of people were injured and, regrettably, one fatality was reported. 

Ahead of the storm, Crawford’s CAT Response team was in place. Crawford kept an eye on the evolving trajectory of the cyclone every minute, using sophisticated weather trackers to have a clear understanding of the path of the cyclone, the likely wind strengths and volumes of rainfall and to make sure that we were prepared for calls for help from our clients or their customers. 

Despite being initially hampered by weather conditions and the lack of a power supply, Crawford’s loss adjusters gradually began to gain access to affected properties as early as Monday, March 10. 

Atlas, Crawford’s mobile loss adjusting app, has proven invaluable as some of these initial visits identified several potentially vulnerable customers, whose details were swiftly forwarded through the Preliminary Loss Advice reporting system to our Vulnerable Customer Advocate for outreach and contact.

So far, we have seen a mix of domestic and commercial claims, with most related to water ingress caused by heavy rainfall and high winds rather than by floods. However, we are aware that many people have been displaced or evacuated, so as services continue to be restored, and as homeowners and businesses return to their properties, we anticipate an appreciable increase in the number of flood-related claims.

But however long it takes for us to assess the full picture and to ascertain the upcoming increase in demand for our assistance, you can be sure that Crawford will be there with the right team, the right technology, and the right processes to help restore lives, businesses and communities.

We will provide more updates as they become available.