Over the weekend, residents of Brisbane, Australia, were bracing for the impact of Tropical Cyclone Alfred. The storm was downgraded to a tropical low, and made landfall on the mainland on Saturday. It was the first storm of its kind in the area in 51 years.

Schools are closed, public transport has stopped and desperate residents are getting around shortages of sandbags by buying sacks of potting mix as a region of eastern Australia is lashed by wind and rain from a rare approaching tropical cyclone.

Tropical Cyclone Alfred had been expected to become on Saturday the first cyclone to cross the east Australian coast near the Queensland state capital since 1974. But it weakened early Saturday to a tropical low,

Tropical low Alfred has hit Australia's southeast coast, bringing heavy winds and rain. One person is dead, police report, and hundreds of thousands are without power as the storm knocks down trees and power lines,

Flooding rains will continue for days to lash a region of the Australian east coast even though it avoided the destructive winds of its first tropical cyclone in 51 years, officials said on Saturday.