Red Cross Deputy Leader Jenny Dowell spoke about the Red Cross' role during the Tropical Cyclone Alfred weather event.

"Red Cross's role, predominantly in the evacuation centre at this stage will be to be offer psychological first aid. So that means, not just for the people who've prepared their house or property physically, but also to encourage people to think about preparing their mind.

"That means recognising that these emotions that people are feeling at this stage are really real and warranted, but also thinking about how you can control those emotions, particularly for the sake of people around you, and I'm particularly mentioning that for parents, the children pick up on the anxiety of parents.

"So if parents learn and are able to speak to their children in calm ways, that can help the children cope. And talking with the children about why we're leaving, what we need to take and reassuring children that they will be safe. That's really important.

"That PFA, psychological first aid, is also what we are providing in evacuation centres. So, I encourage people to go to the Red Cross website. On the front page of that website are things to do with emergency management, and managing your emotions, and preparing so we will get through this with the help of these wonderful agencies around us.

"We encourage people to reach out to their neighbors, to their friends, check in, offer a place for friends to stay if those friends are in the flood zone, remember and plan for your pets, and really importantly, be as calm as you can to make the best decisions that you need to make at the time that you make them."

Jenny highlighted that the work they have been doing has been ongoing since 2022.

"We know it's really important for our community to be prepared for any emergency. We also know that our community has a high level of anxiety because of the memory of three years ago. And we also have new people in our community who perhaps come into the flood zone, who perhaps are unaware. We have also lots of people with elderly neighbors."

"Red Cross and the other agencies have been running community gatherings to build up the community's ability to support each other. It's really supporting each other, not just what will help people get through this emergency stage, but to help people in the recovery stage as well. So that's been going on continually, and many people are now more prepared, not just prepared physically, but more prepared mentally, for these things.

"That's not to take away the fact that this is a really difficult situation for very many people. And emotions are high.