Schools are closed, public transport has stopped and desperate householders are getting around shortages of sandbags by buying sacks of potting mix as a region of eastern Australia is lashed by wind a

Prime minister Anthony Albanese said 660 schools in southern Queensland and 280 schools in northern New South Wales were closed on Thursday as weather conditions worsen. The federal government had delivered 310,000 sandbags to Brisbane and more were on the way, Mr Albanese said.

Millions of residents along Australia’s eastern coast are preparing for the impact of the most southerly cyclone to threaten the region in more than five decades.