The tropical storm, named Alfred, is on track to bring dangerous winds and flooding along the coast of southeastern Queensland, including the country’s third-largest city.

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.

The outer fringe of a tropical cyclone has started to hit eastern Australia, bringing heavy rains and record-breaking waves to a heavily populated region rarely hit by typhoons.