The NSW deputy premier, Prue Car, says the ‘up to more than 300 schools’ that are closed because of Tropical Cyclone Alfred will remain so on Monday. She also reiterates it is dangerous to drive through flood waters. The NSW SES commissioner, Mike Wassing, says: ‘The fact we’re already getting flood rescue calls this early into the incident, and the situation will deteriorate in the next 24 to 48 hours, I can’t be clearer not to do that.’ The housing minister, Rose Jackson, says 35,000 people in NSW are already without power and it will likely stay that way for a number of days