NSW residents are being urged to avoid driving through floodwaters, following 17 emergency rescues over the last 24 hours in the wake of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

NEWS Queensland meteorologist Tony Auden has warned we’re not out of the woods yet with ‘phenomenal’ rain forecast for the region.

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.

With the dust barely settled from the Waratahs’ physical win over the Western Force, Dan McKellar piled pressure on their next opponent. And it wasn’t an accident.

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Tropical Cyclone Alfred is expected to cross the southeast Queensland coast late this Thursday as a Category 2 storm. The last tropical cyclone to make landfall in the region was ex-Tropical Cyclone Zoe in 1974, half a century ago.