FOOD WATCH: Road closures continue to impact supermarket shelves

Food Watch

STAFF WRITERS

Email
Last updated:
Supermarket food continues to fly off the shelves faster than it can be restocked. Picture: Newsport

With Douglas Shire supermarkets continuing to experience product shortages, residents are still asking when the shelves will return to normal.

Although the tropical low off the coast of the Townsville region is moving further out to sea, the two main road service routes were both closed this morning.

As of 10.40am, the Bruce Highway between Cardwell and Ingham was closed due to flooding at Seymour River and Gairloch Washaway, according to the State Transport and Main Roads Department (TMR).

And the Gregory Developmental Road between Charters Towers and Greenvale was also closed, with water over the road at Lolworth Creek, according to a TMR update at about 10am.

State Barron River MP Bree James said this morning six flights were coming into Cairns today with pallets of food for the supermarkets from Cairns to Cooktown, and barges were also coming in.

The Queensland Trucking Association put out a statement yesterday saying close to 300 trucks had made it through Ollera Creek when it opened on Tuesday.

“FNQ will have supplies, which is amazing,” The statement read. 

“Work is progressing today so we will get another message out when we know more.”

And TMR has also released further details about what it took to reopen the Bruce Highway bridge, which was washed away with the recent flooding.

The Ollera Bridge, which is now allowing general traffic through both ways, has taken thousands of tonnes of materials and hundreds of hours of work to rebuild, the statement reads. 

Since closing at 4pm on Tuesday, February 4, TMR crews have worked about 1200 hours on the bridge repairs.  

Ollera Creek has receiving more than 1700mm of rain from the start of February to end of Tuesday, February 11.

Currently the bridge has a speed restriction in place of 60km/h.

TMR director-general Sally Stannard thanked the crews “who worked around the clock through terrible weather”.

 “The dedication of TMR staff – including RoadTek and other specialists – has been exceptional,” she said.

“While the Ollera Creek Bridge is now open, the dangers of rising flood waters are still very much present.”

Support public interest journalism

Help us to continue covering local stories that matter. Please consider supporting below.

Got a news tip?

Send a news tip or submit a letter to the Newsport Editor here.

Comments

Comments are the opinions of readers and do not represent the views of Newsport, its staff or affiliates. Reader comments are moderated before publication to promote valuable, civil, and healthy community debate. Visit our comment guidelines if your comment has not been approved for publication.