Australians told 'prepare for worst' as tropical cyclone nears

GOLD COAST (Australia), Mar 07 (AFP): Violent winds toppled power lines Friday as a tropical cyclone inched towards Australia's eastern coast, sparking evacuation orders and leaving more than 50,000 homes without electricity.

Tropical Cyclone Alfred was 165 kilometres (100 miles) east of Brisbane city on Friday morning, crawling towards the densely populated coastline at "walking speed", government forecasts said.

Some four million people were in the firing line along a 400-kilometre (250-mile) stretch of coastline straddling the border of Queensland state and New South Wales. It is a region rarely troubled by typhoons-it has been more than 50 years since a tropical cyclone made landfall in that part of Queensland. More than 50,000 homes were without power on Friday morning as damaging winds brought down power lines.