Forestry Corporation is advising the public on the North Coast to avoid State forests as Tropical Cyclone Alfred makes landfall on Thursday.

With the forecast of gale force winds and heavy rainfall and potential flash flooding, NSW State forests north of the Nambucca River from the coast to Armidale are closed to visitors until further notice.

As a public safety precaution, Forestry Corporation’s Fire and Natural Hazards team member Adrien Thompson urged the public to avoid state forests and popular campgrounds on the North Coast.

“The Bureau of Meteorology has issued weather warnings for the North Coast of gale force wind gusts in excess of 120km/h and intense local rainfall within the range of 200mm to 500mm in some parts of the North Coast,” Mr Thompson said.

“Forests are unsafe places to be under cyclonic winds and torrential rainfall, and we urge the public to stay safe and avoid visiting State forests and using forest roads given the risk of falling trees and branches, flooding, landslips and dangerous road conditions.

“State forest roads should only be used in emergency situations.

“Forestry Corporation staff will be monitoring the situation across State forests in coming days and we urge regular forest users to check closure notices on our website and stay up to date with roads conditions via the Hazards Near Me App,” he said.

For more information about forest closures go to Forestry Corporation - Closures and notices

For alerts on roads closure notices download the Hazards Near Me app | NSW Government

Flood and cyclone information is available at www.ses.nsw.gov.au