MELBOURNE, Australia, March 5, (AP): Residents were stacking sandbags to protect low-lying properties Wednesday ahead of a tropical cyclone forecast to become the first in 51 years to hit the Australian east coast near Brisbane, the nation’s third-most populous city. Tropical Cyclone Alfred is forecast to cross the coast between the Queensland state capital Brisbane and the tourist city of Gold Coast to the south late Thursday or early Friday, Bureau of Meteorology manager Matt Collopy said.

Brisbane and Gold Coast are a continuous urban sprawl. Their centers are 80 kilometers (50 miles) apart. Alfred was over the Pacific Ocean 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Brisbane and tracking west Wednesday with sustained winds near the center of 95 kph (59 mph) with gusts to 130 kph (81 mph). "That is destructive winds,” Collopy said.

It was expected to maintain that strength until reaching land. "Large swells and powerful waves have been observed along the Queensland coast for several days now with severe coastal erosion and inundation happening,” Collopy told reporters in Brisbane. "This will continue and likely get worse as the system approaches and makes landfall." Heavy rain and life-threatening flooding were expected in the days ahead, he said. "The wave, wind, rainfall and particularly the storm surge present significant risks,” Collopy added.

Cyclones are common in Queensland’s tropical north but are rare in the state’s temperate and densely populated southeast corner that borders New South Wales state. Cyclone Zoe crossed the coast at the southern end of Gold Coast on the New South Wales border in March 1974, causing extensive flooding. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government was providing the Queensland government with 250,000 sandbags in addition to 80,000 the military had already delivered.

"This is a rare event, to have a tropical cyclone in an area that is not classified as part of the tropics, here in southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales," Albanese told reporters in Brisbane. "That is why this preparatory work is so important,” Albanese added. Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said modeling showed that up to 20,000 homes in his city of more than 3 million people could experience some level of flooding.