Cyclone panic buying explodes as supermarket shelves stripped bare

Supermarket across South East Queensland are beginning to empty as residents preparing for Tropical Cyclone Alfred begin to strip shelves bare.

Woolworths Camp Hill with shelves stripped bare.

Supermarket across South East Queensland are beginning to empty as residents preparing for Tropical Cyclone Alfred to make landfall begin to strip shelves bare.

Dozens of stores across South East Queensland have already run out of water, including at Ashgrove, Chermside, Everton Park, The Gap, Ormeau, Upper Coomera and Bribie Island.

Many supermarkets are also beginning to have a low amount of bread and milk.

Shoppers told the Courier Mail they came specifically to the supermarkets on Monday to get cyclone ready.

Queenslanders have been asked to stop panic buying.

RELATED: 1.88m properties in path of cyclone Alfred’s fury

When asked if had concerns about panic buying, Premier David Crisafulli said: “Yeah, but the message to the supermarkets is restock the shelves as much as you can.”

He said Queenslanders should be able to buy what they need.

“And that is an important part of the process. It is important that people have sufficient food and water and I understand why Queenslanders want to do that, that is important,” Mr Crisafulli said.

Woolworths at Ormeau was almost sold out of water.

“You should be prepared to be without power and should prepare to have your bottled water and you should have your spare batteries, spare charger for your phone, you should have batteries for a radio, you should have all your documents in one location.

“There is no harm in preparing and then not needing it. The harm is in not doing the work and – then when things become in a perilous situation if it gets to it – not being ready.

“So just do the little things, if you do the little things people will get through it.”

Jenny Andrews said she came to the shops at The Gap to start getting prepared.

“We came to the shops especially for the cyclones only because you just don’t know what’s going to happen,” she said.

“It’s better to be prepared.

“It’s a bit like Covid everyone’s come down to the shops.

“It was far busier than I expected. Absolutely everywhere. People everywhere.”

Coles at Upper Coomera was also bare.

Andy Andrews said he was not concerned about the cyclone but it was better to be prepared.

“I’m not concerned at all, I go back to the 70s and the 60s. I remember three or four in Brisbane as a young fella,” he said.

“Flooding will be the big one if anything so I had we came to get a few extra supplies.”

Jenny Boyd said she was shocked to see no water.

“There’s no water on the shelves in coles unless you want fizzy water or Coke,” she said.

“ I think filling up a couple of Jerry cans with tap water now would be a good idea.”

Shelves have also been stripped bare at Coles Albany Creek, with bottles of water, bread, capsicum, cucumbers, meat, eggs, potatoes, soft drinks, and toilet paper in short supply.

Fab Niquet of Warner, who works for a food delivery company, said shops across the northside of Brisbane have been busy today.

Fresh produce was hard to come by at Albany Creek Coles on Monday night.

“The shopping today has been pretty crazy,” he said.

“We’re trying to get water for some customers and also bread and eggs.

“All your normal stuff toilet paper has also been disappearing off the shelves.

“Other shops around the northern suburbs of Brisbane are all like this.

“It’s just crazy, I don’t know why people are doing this for two days worth of activity of a cyclone.”

Shoppers also inundated Bunnings at Stafford on Monday, also stripping the shelves of water and gas canisters.

Chloe Ryan from Nundah said she came to get torches, a gas cooker and some water.

“It actually went to Woolworths really early which was nice, I expected it to be worse,” she said.

Coles Chermside was also almost completely out of water.

“But Bunnings was hectic. There weren’t many gas cookers left and it was a bit crazy.”

Ms Ryan said she was a bit worried about flooding.

“I am a bit worried because I have a small baby but we will see what happens,” she said.

Bunnings general manager of store operations north Marg Walford said keeping their team and customers safe was their highest priority.

“Our store teams are working hard to ensure the right products are easily accessible in-store for our customers,” Ms Walford said.

“Our complex managers have built strong relationships with their local communities, SES and emergency services and will be ready to offer support during recovery.

“As always, we encourage everyone to ensure they are keeping up to date with information and instructions from relevant emergency services.”

Aldi was also closely monitoring the weather forecast and was not anticipating issues with supply in their Southeast Queensland stores or introducing buying limits at this stage.

Despite the panic buying, supermarkets have assured customers they are well stocked.

A Coles spokesman said the team were working tirelessly to ensure stores were stocked so they could serve their customers as Cyclone Alfred approaches.

“We have extra deliveries on the roads already, with a focus on boosting our supply of meat, milk, bread, water, canned goods, baby formula and toilet paper,” he said.

“This preparation began last week, and will continue this week.

“While this is the first cyclone to hit this area in more 50-years, we are well prepared to ensure we can continue serving communities affected by these wild weather events.

“We will work closely with government and local authorities as the impacts from Cyclone Alfred unfold.”

Woolworths currently do not have any purchase limits in place across SEQ but they will monitor supply and demand.

A Woolworths spokesman said they were closely monitoring the movements of Alfred.

“Our team is sending additional stock from our Brisbane Regional Distribution Centre to stores across the Sunshine Coast and South East Queensland,” he said.

“We will continue to work closely with the local and state governments and authorities to ensure we can continue to support the community.

“As customers prepare for the cyclone, we ask them to be mindful of others in the community and buy only what they need.”