Frustrated Queenslanders have complained of empty supermarket shelves as rising floodwaters leave major highways underwater and food trucks stranded.
ABC Journalist Tobi Loftus posted a series of photos of bare shelves and freezers from a Coles supermarket in Gladstone, 500km north of Brisbane, on Monday.
‘Very empty fresh produce and meat shelves in Coles in Gladstone. Was told there are similar scenes in Rockhampton and other parts of Central Queensland,’ he said.
Another Queensland resident complained of the same food shortages tweeting: ‘You can’t get veggies or fruit in Mooloolaba…. no trucks…’
Frustrated Queenslanders have complained of empty supermarket shelves (pictured) as rising floodwaters leave major highways underwater and food trucks stranded
Another Queensland resident complained of the same food shortages tweeting: ‘You can’t get veggies or fruit in Mooloolaba…. no trucks…’ (pictured, empty shelves at a QLD Woolworths)
A Mooloolaba shopper was forced to try four stores to find fresh produce – in shortages comparable to the start of the Covid pandemic in March 2020.
It comes after residents of some suburbs including Newstead on the banks of the Brisbane River flocked to supermarkets to stock up on emergency supplies.
Shelves of fresh bread were quickly cleaned out along with an entire aisle of bottled water over the weekend as floodwaters threatened the southeast.
It is understood some flood-affected residents are concerned drinking water could become contaminated by the floods.
A Woolworths spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia all of their Sunshine Coast stores were open and trading at normal hours at this stage.
‘The Bruce Highway has re-opened to the Sunshine Coast, so deliveries have recommenced today, but it will take a few days to catch up,’ they said.
A Mooloolaba shopper was forced to try four stores to find fresh produce – in shortages comparable to the start of the Covid pandemic (pictured, floodwaters in Ipswich)
residents of some suburbs including Newstead on the banks of the Brisbane River flocked to supermarkets to stock up on emergency supplies (pictured, a flooded McDonalds in Lismore)
‘Our teams are working hard to restock shelves as quickly as possible. We are currently exploring road options into Gympie to resupply the stores there.’
The spokesperson said some temporary purchase limits would be placed on specific categories to ensure all customers had access to the essentials.
‘We encourage customers to be mindful of others in the community and only buy what they need,’ the spokesperson said.
It comes as incredible footage shows the scale of the massive floods which have inundated Lismore on the north coast – with a McDonald’s restaurant, a Caltex service station and entire shopping centre underwater.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a new warning about life-threatening floodwaters on Monday as the weather bureau forecast further torrential rain on Tuesday.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a new warning about life-threatening floodwaters on Monday as the weather bureau forecast further torrential rain on Tuesday (pictured, flooded businesses in Lismore, northeastern NSW on Monday)
Dozens of residents and their pets have been rescued by SES and QFES crew (pictured)
Houses were engulfed by flood waters in the suburb of Auchenflower, Brisbane (pictured)
It follows harrowing scenes in the state’s north with dozens of families rescued from the roofs of their homes by helicopters and boats earlier on Monday with reports there are up to 400 people unaccounted for.
The BoM is warning parts of the NSW coast from Lismore to Port Macquarie should expect ‘intense’ rainfall over the next 24 hours.
Meteorologist Dean Narramore said some areas near Lismore received 700mm of rain in total on Sunday and Monday which had contributed to the ‘catastrophic flooding’.
Meanwhile NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet warned the flood crises is deteriorating.
The state leader described the flooding in northern NSW as ‘unprecedented’ and warned conditions were expected to worsen.
The Wilsons River at Lismore is expected to peak at more than 16 metres on Monday night while the entire Lismore CBD remains underwater after days of heavy rain.
There are 12 evacuation orders in place across the state’s north, affecting close to 16,000 people, while six areas are under evacuation warnings, covering around 14,000 people.
In Gympie, two hours north of Brisbane, more than 1,000 homes have been submerged in water in the town’s worst flood in over a century.
The region was declared a disaster area on Saturday, with hundreds forced to leave their homes and seek refuge in crowded evacuation centres.
‘We have around 550 people in the Gympie evacuation centre and a total of 1,040 across the state,’ Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.
‘We haven’t really experienced this much rain in such a short period of time before.’
A severe weather warning is in place for large swathes of southeast Queensland and northern NSW as dozens are rescued from their waterlogged homes.
The Mary River was expected to fall below the major flood level on Monday after it peaked at 23m and flooded the town over the weekend.
Residents have reported livestock turning up in backyards and carparks after being washed away from farms upstream as water levels rise in the CBD.
A Queensland Fire and Rescue Swift Water Rescue crew move through the flooded streets in the city of Paddington in suburban Brisbane
The Brisbane River peaked at 3.85m at 8am on Monday, the highest level seen since the devastating floods of 2011 (pictured, people paddle kayaks in Milton, Brisbane)
In Brisbane, 53,000 households are currently without power and 15,000 homes have been flooded with eight dead and at least four still missing.
The Brisbane River peaked at 3.85m at 8am on Monday, the highest level seen since the devastating floods of 2011 – with authorities warning residents of 140 suburbs.
Two catastrophic peaks are expected on Monday night and Tuesday morning.
The crisis is widening, with multiple major flood warnings for northeastern NSW including the Tweed, Richmond, Wilsons, Bellinger and Clarence rivers.
State Emergency Services Commissioner Carlene York is co-ordinating a multi-agency response which includes the ADF, NSW Fire and Rescue, police and ambulance, but she admits the weather is making it difficult to get helicopters into the air and boats into the water.
She urged people to heed evacuation warnings, saying otherwise the SES ‘can’t promise to respond at a later stage if you do get into difficulty’.
Flooded scenes from Southbank in Brisbane on Monday where 53,000 households are currently without power and 15,000 homes have been flooded
In the past 24 hours there have been 500 flood rescues and 927 requests for help (pictured, the flooded city of Maryborough along the over-flowing Mary river)
In the past 24 hours there have been 500 flood rescues and 927 requests for help and the premier is warning conditions in the north have not peaked.
Families raced to higher ground on Monday morning as rivers burst their banks from torrential rains slamming NSW and south-east Queensland with floodwaters claiming the lives of eight people in Queensland alone – the latest a man aged in his 50s and his dog who were found in a submerged car in Currumbin Valley.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced that residents who have been affected by the floods will be eligible for a disaster recovery payment.
Eligible adults will receive $1000 and eligible children will receive $400 which can be accessed through Services Australia.
Australia’s Defence Force will be deployed to help with the mammoth clean up.
‘It can include troops themselves engaged directly in the same clean-up effort that so many people from the city of Brisbane will be engaged with as part of the Mud Army,’ Mr Morrison said.
Residents in Brisbane on Monday as the state grapples with a days-long flood crisis
Some 15,000 people have already been evacuated along the NSW north coast with thousands more stranded (pictured, an aerial view of the flooded town of Maryborough)
Some 15,000 people have already been evacuated along the NSW north coast with thousands more stranded and hundreds of calls to the State Emergency Service.
The SES is so overwhelmed its rescue boats have not been able to reach every resident, forcing desperate locals to post their addresses on a Facebook page to plead for a rescue.
QFES has made more than 100 swift-water rescues amid 8000 calls for help in the Brisbane, Ipswich, Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast since 3pm on Sunday.
Queensland’s M1 and Bruce Highway remain closed due to flooding with a year’s worth of rain drenching Queensland’s southeast in recent days.
While the rain in Brisbane has eased, the flood emergency is far from over with the Brisbane River expected to peak again on Monday night around 8pm (pictured, a boy wades through floodwaters in Paddington, Brisbane)
More than 1000 schools across the state have been closed and most public transport in Brisbane has been cancelled (pictured, residents dispose of water-damaged belongings)
Residents in low-lying areas river are preparing to evacuate, including in Brisbane CBD, Newstead, West End, New Farm, Milton, St Lucia, Bulimba, South Brisbane, Toowong and Rocklea.
Another 3600 homes have been flooded in Gympie north of Brisbane in the town’s worst flood in more than 100 years.
More than 1000 schools across the state have been closed and most public transport in Brisbane has been cancelled.
While the rain in Brisbane has eased, the flood emergency is far from over with the Brisbane River expected to peak again on Monday night around 8pm.
Another significant peak to 3.7m is expected 9am on Tuesday.
