Before and after pictures of Australia’s east coast show the true scale of devastation caused by Tropical Cyclone Alfred. What was once a paradise for surfers, with golden, sunlit sands, became a battleground as waves as high as ‘three or four-storey buildings’ slammed into the coastline.

Flamboyant Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate is back on Aussie shores after his US jaunt, but he is still a long way from his rainswept home.