Brisbane, Queensland floods

Power out and supermarkets bare as floodwaters rise

Read more about Queensland Floods

100,000 to lose power, supermarkets bare as flooding crisis continues Staff reporters January 11, 2011 - 9:07PM Comments 83 Raging torrent's trail of devastation Rescue workers in Queensland have struggled through bad weather to reach communities now isolated by flood waters.

 

Video feedbackVideo settings Authorities have called for calm as reports come in of panic-buying at Brisbane supermarkets after workers fled the CBD en masse today.

 

This evening, the Gateway Motorway has been cut in both directions at the Bracken Ridge Exit at Bald Hills due to water on the road.

 

Up to 100,000 customers are expected to lose electricity tomorrow when Energex begins turning off power to the CBD and other riverside areas.

 

Bottled water almost sold out at Woolworths at Garden City at 3pm today.

 

Photo: Marissa Calligeros Today, Lord Mayor Campbell Newman warned the worst of the flooding was yet to come, with Thursday likely to be ''devastating''.

 

Cr Newman said latest flood modelling suggested 6500 properties could be inundated, with 16,500 to be partially affected.

 

Brisbane City Council has released a new flood map showing the likely affected areas, with as much as 12,000 cubic metres of water expected to be flowing out of the Brisbane River per second on Thursday at 3am.

 

Photo: Amelia Bentley While police advised there were no forced evacuations in the CBD, numerous major employers such as government departments, Telstra, Myer and David Jones all advised workers to go home.

 

Throughout the early afternoon, roads out of the city were logjammed and public transport crowded as workers sought to return to their homes.

 

Telstra spokeswoman Elouise Campion was among the evacuees who left the company's headquarters in George Street, close to the banks of the swelling Brisbane River.

 

Click for more photos Brisbane under water Drift restaurant at Milton is affected by the rising flood waters.

 

An evacuation centre has been set up at the RNA Showgrounds at Bowen Hills for residents affected by floods.

 

A number of buildings in the CBD and Fortitude Valley were self-evacuated, with Eagle Street at the pier now under water, according to police.

 

West End residents have been urged to move to higher ground, while the river has also reportedly breached its banks at New Farm and Auchenflower.

 

Staff at Jellyfish restaurant and Boardwalk Bar and Bistro were pulling furniture and electrical appliances out of their restaurants on Eagle Street Pier this morning as they watched the river level rise.

 

Authorities are conducting new modelling to see what the wall of water ripping through the Lockyer Valley will mean for Wivenhoe Dam, Premier Anna Bligh said this morning.