A slow-moving tropical storm crossed islands off Australia’s heavily populated eastern coast late Friday, lashing coastal suburbs with destructive winds and dumping heavy rain across the region.

Tropical storm Alfred could cause significant flooding in eastern Australia despite the slowly moving storm no longer being a cyclone.

Around 2,000 Olympic swimming pools worth of sand is estimated to be gone – 80% of Gold Coast’s beaches, according to city mayor Tom Tate. Much of it was gone before Cyclone Alfred even hit, giving the coast a double blow by making it more vulnerable to erosive storm surges when it finally did make land.