1 dead and several injured as tropical low tracks west across Australian east coast

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Flooding rains are set to continue lashing the Australian east coast even though it avoided the destructive winds of its first tropical cyclone in 51 years, officials said Saturday. One person was confirmed dead and several were injured.

Tropical Cyclone Alfred had been expected to become the first cyclone to cross the Australian coast near the Queensland state capital, Brisbane, Australia’s third-most populous city, since 1974.

But it weakened Saturday to a tropical low, which is defined as carrying sustained winds of less than 63 kph (39 mph).

The cyclone’s remnant crossed the coast late Saturday 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of Brisbane and will continue to track west across the inland bringing heavy rain, Bureau of Meteorology said in a statement.

“The real threat now is from that locally heavy-to-intense rainfall, which may lead to flash and riverine flooding,” bureau manager Matt Collopy said.

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.

A 61-year-old man who disappeared in a flooded river near the New South Wales town of Dorrigo was confirmed the first casualty of the crisis when his body was recovered on Saturday, police said.

Defense personnel were injured when two military trucks involved in the emergency response collided at the town of Tregeagle in New South Wales on Saturday, police said.

Of the 36 Brisbane-based military personnel involved in the incident, 13 were injured, Australian government minister Matt Keogh said. Keogh provided no details on what had happened or the injuries.

A woman sustained minor injuries when an apartment building lost its roof in the Queensland border city of Gold Coast on Friday, police said. The woman was one of 21 people who were evacuated from the building.

A couple sustained minor injuries when a tree crashed through the ceiling of their Gold Coast bedroom during strong winds and rain on Thursday night, officials said.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli said 330,000 homes and businesses had lost power due to the storm since Thursday. No other natural disaster had created a bigger blackout in the state’s history. New South Wales reported as many as 45,000 premises without electricity on Saturday. But tens of thousands had been reconnected by late in the day, officials said.

Rivers were flooding in Queensland and New South Wales after days of heavy rain, the meteorology bureau said. The dead man recovered on Saturday was the only fatality among 36 flood rescues carried out by emergency teams in northern New South Wales in recent days, most involving vehicles attempting to cross floodwaters, police said.