March 2025 Tropical Cyclone Alfred
Tropical Cyclone (TC) Alfred was one of the most significant weather events our city has faced in the past 50 years.
TC Alfred impacted the Gold Coast from 6 March 2025, damaging our infrastructure and environment with destructive winds, extreme rainfall and flash flooding.
Destructive storm tides and damaging winds significantly impacted the Gold Coast coastline and riverine catchments.
Gold Coast residents and businesses experienced damage to properties, and the city sustained infrastructure and park damage, with fallen trees and powerlines.
As we continue repair and restoration work across the Gold Coast, we want to ensure we are best placed to help our community recover.
Recovery progress as at May 2025
1500 truckloads of sand deposited to restore beaches.
3400 tonnes of debris and rubbish removed from beaches.
Over 20,000 tonnes of green waste collected and processed for re-use.
Over 11,000 flexiskips of disaster waste collected from residents.
Over $2 million of major economic recovery packages delivered.
100% of beaches reopened.
1 community and education event about preparing for disasters and recovery held by emergency services.
All impacted school and education facilities reopened.
Recovery Plan
We are implementing our Recovery Plan to help our community recover from TC Alfred.
To find out more, read the TC Alfred Recovery Plan(PDF, 754KB).
- Short-term recovery: 12 March to 23 April 2025
- Medium-term recovery: 24 April to 10 September 2025
- Long-term recovery: 11 September 2025 onwards
Recovery actions
The recovery actions we're delivering include:
100%
Human and social recovery actions complete
Human and social
- Emergency shelter
- Essentials and financial assistance
- Multi-lingual relief information
- Psychological first aid and immediate support
- Reconnection of essential services
- Insurance claim support
- Support to repair damaged properties
- Vulnerable resident support
- Psychosocial and mental health awareness
- Assist priority community groups
- Strengthen social connections
- Support accommodation solutions
96%
Environment recovery actions complete
Environment
- Conduct water quality monitoring
- Collect data collection to quantify damage
- Manage green waste
- Provide environmental health advice
- Conduct pest control
- Clean up debris in waterways and beaches
- Implement resilient street replacement program for lost trees
- Provide support to conservation and wildlife groups
- Mitigate bushfire risk
- Clear and redress impacts to fire trails
- Redress erosion, stability and vegetation loss to waterways
- Implement canopy regeneration and forest restoration
90%
Infrastructure recovery actions complete
Infrastructure
- Repair power networks, water supply and telecommunications
- Remove debris and green waste
- Restore schools and education facilities
- Restore parks, sporting, recreation and community infrastructure
- Restore roads and landslips
- Implement sewage and water pump betterment programs
100%
Economic recovery actions complete
Economic
- Loan and grant fund assistance to impacted businesses
- Services to address business specific waste needs
- Promote 'Gold Coast is open for business'
- Long-term financial support measures for identified businesses
- Connect businesses with appropriate support to address emerging needs
- Encourage visitation, business and investment confidence
- Re-establish connections within business communities
73%
Disaster resilience recovery actions complete
Disaster Resilience - building back better
We are continually learning about how to manage the impacts of disaster events we face. Our recovery plan will help us build back better and become more resilient to disasters and emergency events. We will:
- Identify critical lessons from the last event
- Enhance our dune planting program for beach restoration
- Support education and wellness activities to mitigate severe weather-related impacts
- Support aged care sector to reduce power loss during emergencies
- Identify opportunities for climate adaptation and disaster readiness programs
- Investigate options to improve critical traffic signal and water and sewage networks during emergencies
Insurance
The Insurance Council of Australia offers help in disasters. Visit the Insurance Council website for more information or support with your insurance after a disaster.
Beach restoration
The cyclone caused steep sand scarping and damaged access ways and coastal infrastructure. We lost about 4 million cubic metres of sand, which is around 320,000 semi-trailer loads.
Heavy machinery will be on the beach as we work through the clean-up. Our crews will reduce steep sand scarps, clear debris and close off damaged areas.
Our beaches are still at risk from storms and big waves. We may use sand from stockpiles, offshore dredging and sand bypassing to restore high-risk areas. Some northern access points may stay closed for weeks or months for repairs. We're looking into long-term solutions to speed up the recovery of our beaches.
Find out more about our beach restoration program.