The Golden State Warriors will wear ‘DM’ patches on their jerseys for the rest of the NBA season as a tribute to coach Dejan Milojevic, who tragically died last week. It’s just the saddest thing I’ve ever been a part of in the NBA. It’s hard to describe the week – heartbreaking, devastating,’ Kerr told reporters on Monday as he wore a shirt which read ‘BROTHER’ in Serbian. The shock, the emotion, the extreme outpouring of love from all over the world. Warriors big man Kevon Looney also said, ‘His English wasn’t always the best so he didn’t know how to sugarcoat anything. Kerr added that ‘Deki had an amazing way of being very direct and honest without threatening anyone. We got a better sense of just what Deki meant to his countrymen,’ Kerr said. Toronto Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic, who is also Serbian, dedicated his team’s win last Wednesday to his late friend. Milojevic, 46, was part of the coaching staff that helped the Warriors win the 2022 NBA championship. As a tribute, Steve Kerr’s team will also have ‘DM’ painted on the court for all remaining home games at the Chase Center. I wanna be with every day,’ Kerr later added of Milojevic. The incident occurred at Valter’s Osteria, a popular Italian eatery frequented by NBA teams, and the Warriors had two games postponed in the days after the incident. The Serbian assistant coach suffered a heart attack while dining in Salt Lake City with his fellow Warriors coaches and some players before the game against the Jazz. Kerr, who lost his own father when he was 18 years old, said he understood what Milojevic’s children, Nikola and Masa, were going through. And reigning NBA champion Nikola Jokic also paid tribute to Milojevic, posting a picture of himself with the coach, writing: ‘Deki, rest in peace! Where we lose someone who’s so close to us and then more importantly, seeing his family suffer. Condolences to the family! It’s kind of crazy but Friday was the 40th anniversary of my dad’s death,’ he told reporters.
Or even technically a cyclone anymore.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says there are ‘grave concerns’ for a man swept away by rising floodwaters in northern NSW. The Bureau of Meteorology is urging people to refrain from celebrating just yet, insisting the storm will still wreak havoc across south-east Queensland and northern NSW. The Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment is a one-off payment of $1,000 per adult and $400 for a child, for people who have been badly affected by the disaster and need immediate help. That means we’ve seen those winds backing off over the last few hours, leading to that weakening in the system. After days of booming disaster warnings, millions of anxious residents woke this morning to the news the much-hyped Tropical Cyclone Alfred lurking off Australia’s east coast wasn’t the category two behemoth it has been built up to be. Attempts to locate the man have been hampered by increasingly wild weather across the state’s north, with road access to the location now completely cut off by floods. Police say the motorist got caught in a flash flood after trying to cross Wild Cattle Creek Bridge, near Old Coramba Road, north-east of Dorrigo, in his four-wheel drive about 2.20pm on Friday. We stand ready to activate disaster payments,’ he said. The driver was forced to abandon his vehicle as the fast-moving flood began to pull it from the bridge but managed to cling onto a tree branch about 30m from the riverbank before he too was washed away. The slow-moving system, which is still lingering off the coast near Bribie Island and is not expected to thunder onto the mainland for another hour or two, has been downgraded to a tropical low. He added: ‘There are also jointly funded payments between the Commonwealth and the state, so they are activated by the states. States can choose to activate these payments which cover immediate personal costs like replacing food, medical supplies, clothing, and essential household items like bed linen and whitegoods. Anthony Albanese announced on Saturday disaster relief payments would be made available to Australians caught in the firing line of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred. We will do so expeditiously as it appropriate. Anthony Albanese announced on Saturday he would greenlight the payments for those affected by ex-Cyclone Alfred. Now, just as a reminder to everyone, the category of tropical cyclone is based on the wind strength and wind gust speed,’ Bureau meteorologist Miriam Bradbury says. We won’t be waiting for the March 2025 Budget to do that. There is a personal hardship assistance scheme. Or even technically a cyclone anymore. High winds ripping through the area have also prevented authorities from conducting a helicopter search for the driver. He was last seen disappearing under the water as he was hauled downstream. That is activated 40 hours after the initial impact.
However, it doesn’t speak to the rain and flooding risk that we’re still anticipating. While another praises brave Queenslanders’ determination to ‘rebuild’ in the wake of the carnage caused by the storm by fixing up a blown over deck chair. Still, the warnings have done little to stem the backlash against the Bureau on social media for ‘crying wolf’ and over-selling the threat posed by the tempest throughout the week. And now the memes and videos poking fun at the Bureau are starting to flood in too. One post shows two men in a police interrogation cell, along with the question ‘Is the cyclone in the room with us now? So far there has been no loss of life or missing persons reports as a result of the thundering weather system. Almost two dozen people were forced to make an emergency evacuation from an apartment complex on the Gold – the full report – Coast in the dead of the night as the city was hammered by fierce winds. Which is frankly terrific at this stage,’ he says. Another not-so-bemused resident has posted a comic video highlighting the ‘terrifying’ damage the cyclone caused in his backyard. We did see an apartment complex on Labrador on the Gold Coast suffer damage. Acting Queensland Police Commissioner Shane Chelepy says officers were called out to almost 90 disaster-related jobs overnight, while the SES responded to an additional 77 incidents. Authorities warned the weather system would be the first cyclone to hit south-east Queensland and northern NSW in 50 years before it was downgraded to a tropical low on Saturday.
He says there were no reports of ‘significant’ property damage as the storm rolled over Stradbroke Island and Moreton Island. Several key services have also loss connection to the power grid and are running on generators, he says, including the Gold Coast University Hospital and water treatment plants in Alexandra Hills and Mount Cotton. There is already a storm brewing on social media with irked residents accusing the Bureau of Meteorology of overzealous fearmongering about the potential impact of now ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred. Queenslanders need to know know that right now there are damage assessments being done and already crews are being mobilised to get that job done. There are generators on site and staff are urgently attempting to reconnect those, and it is a race against the clock to try to do that in the minutes and hours ahead before those reservoirs run out of water,’ he says. Yesterday the emergency services continued to doorknock over 2,000 homes at our flood-risk areas – flood maps for these areas are available on the council dashboards, so can I ask you to familiarise yourself with those areas,’ he says. Mr Chelepy also urges people in flood-affected areas to remain vigilant and be ready to leave if water levels continue to rise. The BOM talked it up and scared people,’ one user says. The challenges now are flash flooding, creek rises. We have to be ready for that prospect. They remain a real prospect with some of the rainfall predicted in the days ahead,’ Mr Crisafulli says. There are communication outages, particularly in the Gold Coast hinterland area,’ he says. He says almost 250,000 homes remain without power across the storm’s impact zone and that more 2,000 emergency personnel are in position and ready to make urgent repairs as soon as conditions ease. Queensland Premier David Crisafulli warns heavy deluges and severe flooding remain the greatest threats as ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred unleashes a torrential downpour on the state’s southeast. But with the storm downgraded to a category one system overnight and again to a tropical low this morning, people are now unleashing their own fury online. With swollen catchments, the risk of flash flooding remains, I’m asking Queenslanders to continue to stay vigilant. Mr Crisafulli adds that while there had been some significant property damage overnight, the region had been spared the worst ravages with the tropical system weakening substantially this morning before reaching the mainland. Cyclone Alfred is a tropical low. This is the single biggest loss (in power) we have seen in over a decade since (cyclone) Oswald,’ he says.

An eco-influencer has slammed
Coles is beginning to reopen its supermarkets across southeast Queensland and northern NSW after Cyclone Alfred fizzled out into a tropical low system. Authorities say the motorist was forced to abandon his four-wheel drive after trying to cross Wild Cattle Creek Bridge, near Old Coramba Road in Megan, 23km northeast of Dorrigo, about 2.20pm on Friday. High winds ripping through the area have also prevented authorities from conducting a helicopter search for the driver. So still heavy rainfall for the remainder of today and overnight tonight,’ he says. We are continuing to work closely with government, local authorities, and emergency services to ensure we can reopen as soon as it is safe to do so,’ a Coles spokesperson says. The forecast comes as the Bureau of Meteorology predicts the final remnants of Alfred will have petered out in the state’s north in the same time frame. Bureau meteorologist Mick Logan says the heavy rainfalls in the storm’s key impact zones will ease throughout Saturday before largely wrapping up by the end of the weekend. It is already business as usual at Coles’ Toowoomba outlets and store managers are actively assessing other locations. Heavy falls of up to 60mm are then expected to douse the city’s west come Monday morning. Gentle showers are expected to settle across Sydney on Saturday evening with more drizzle throughout Sunday. There was a short period of time where (police) were able to engage with him,’ he says. He was last seen disappearing under the water as he was hauled downstream. Sydney will be kissed by the fringe of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred with heavy thunderstorms predicted to roll over the city across the weekend. However, his position inside the flooded river prevented any emergency services from getting close to him and unfortunately he has been washed downstream. Although the risk of flooding will remain as the deluge washes through the region’s river systems, he says authorities should be able to assess the full impact of the storm by Monday morning. The grocery giant says it is gradually opening up its stores on a case-by-case basis after taking power outrages and staff availability into account. Attempts to locate the man have been hampered by increasingly wild weather across the state’s north, with road access to the location now completely cut off by floods. Acting commander of Coffs Harbour Police District Guy Flaherty says emergency services are currently trying to access the area so they could resume the search. Police are desperately trying to resume their search for a 61-year-old man washed from a bridge by raging floodwaters in the state’s north.