Residents who prepared for the cyclone now have little to do but wait and see how their efforts will pay off against the rising water.

Residents are stacking sandbags to protect low-lying properties ahead of a tropical cyclone that is forecast to become the first in 51 years to hit the Australian east coast near Brisbane, the nation’s third-most populous city.

Ex-tropical Cyclone Alfred has been downgraded to a tropical low, as it approaches Australia’s eastern coast. Although the speed at which Alfred is travelling has slowed, Brisbane locals have been sent a stark warning of what might be to come.