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Food supply hit in Qld rainfall event

Queensland's deluge is wreaking havoc in the state's far north after isolating towns, closing schools and damaging crops on the central coast.

farm animals sheltering from heavy rain as water rises on a property.

Heavy rain has caused floods, blackouts and crop damage in north and central Queensland. (AAP)

More rain could be the "nail in the coffin" for central Queensland farmers who are facing widespread crop losses after severe rainfall.

Farmers are expected to have been hit hard in Monto near Bundaberg with Department of Agriculture and Fisheries officers tasked to assess the impact on Thursday afternoon.

The wild weather, which has spread from the central coast to far north Queensland, has caused evacuations, power outages, road closures and now possible damage to the Queensland food supply.

"In Monto alone, some of the farmers have lost not just their winter crops but their summer crops," Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told reporters on Thursday.

Queensland Farmers Federation project manager Ross Henry said hundreds of sugarcane farms were damaged and other crops, such as capsicums and tomatoes, were at risk.

"It's been one extreme to another for these farmers, from drought to floods," Mr Henry told AAP.

"Crops have been badly devastated going into summer."

He added if more rain comes it could be the final "nail in the coffin" for flood-affected farmers trying to recover from the conditions.

In the far north, thousands woke up without power, with the number reaching more than 14,000 during the peak of the outage due to rain and severe winds.

An Ergon Energy spokeswoman said crews had restored power to thousands, however, 2000 homes had remained in the dark since early Thursday morning.

The SES has taken close to 600 calls for assistance across Queensland since the rainfall event started last Friday.

A Bureau of Meteorology spokesman said the rainfall is expected to ease off on Thursday and Friday.

"Showers could return on the weekend, but nothing like the extremes we have seen," he said.


2 min read

Published

Source: AAP



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