Flooding rains are set to continue lashing the Australian east coast even though it avoided its first tropical cyclone in 51 years.

Gusts and torrential rain have blacked out more than a quarter of a million properties and swamped parts of Australia's east coast, officials said Sunday, with one driver confirmed dead and a dozen troops injured in the wild weather.

But while authorities have been warning residents to stay indoors as Cyclone Alfred approaches, die-hard surfers have been throwing caution to the increasing wind. "This is what we look forward to," said Jeff Weatherall as he waited for a jet ski to pick him up from Kirra beach and carry him into the big waves.

Thousands of Queensland residents were left without power on Sunday after Cyclone Alfred, a downgraded tropical cyclone, caused widespread damage across the state.

Significant damage and power outages are possible in the densely populated region of Queensland, where tropical cyclones impacts are not uncommon but direct landfalls are.