Violent winds toppled power lines Friday as a tropical cyclone inched towards Australia's eastern coast, swelling rivers, sparking evacuation orders and leaving 80,000 homes without electricity.

Tropical Cyclone Alfred was 125 kilometres (80 miles) east of Brisbane by Friday afternoon, crawling towards the densely populated coastline at "walking speed", government forecasts said.

Some four million people were in the firing line along a 400-kilometre (250-mile) stretch of coastline straddling the state border of Queensland and New South Wales.

It is a region rarely troubled by typhoons -- it has been more than 50 years since a tropical cyclone made landfall in that stretch of coast.

No deaths have been reported, but police said one man was missing after his four-wheel drive vehicle was swept from a bridge into fast-running river water south of the cyclone.

"The male driver was able to exit the vehicle and secure himself to a tree branch," New........

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