The situation in Queensland and northern New South Wales remains very serious, said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. SYDNEY: Wild weather has blacked out more than 300,000 homes and businesses on Australia's east coast, officials said Sunday (Mar 9), with one driver confirmed dead and a dozen troops injured . After days hovering off the coast as a category 2 tropical cyclone generating heavy weather across the region, Alfred weakened into a tropical depression before making landfall on Saturday