Bruce Highway at Gympie reopens to travellers

The Bruce Highway at Gympie has reopened to travellers with some diversions still in place. The positive news comes after the Mary River hit a 16m peak overnight. UPDATES, VIDEO:

Gympie reopened to travellers by 9.30am Sunday after the water level dropped following the Mary River peaking just above 16m overnight.

Some diversions along the Bruce Highway remain.

Damage assessments in the Gympie area found 11 businesses affected in the area, while the 30 tourists who were stuck in evacuation centres are now free to continue on their travels.

A Queensland Police Service spokesperson said the river continued to be monitored.

Drivers will be able to make their way along the Bruce Highway, with some diversions still in place.

Earlier in the weekend, Gympie was officially isolated as flood waters cut both ends of the Bruce Hwy and major bridges.

Speaking at a press conference on Saturday afternoon, the flood-ravaged city’s mayor Glen Hartwig told reporters Gympie was now isolated with residents and drivers trapped either side.

The Mary River is expected to peak at about 16m Saturday night, more than four metres lower than the February peak.

“The situation is we are cut off now,” Mr Hartwig said.

“If you are travelling south or from the north, you will not get through Gympie.

“If you can find a place to stay before you reach Gympie, you need to do that. If you can turn around and go back home, you need to do that.”

Wises Rd, Gympie, resembled a river on Saturday morning as the One Mile Ovals and surrounding businesses were inundated.

It comes as shop owners and residents sandbag in Gympie’s CBD and the Normanby Bridge is closed as floodwaters continue to rise following this week’s torrential downpours.

At the Hatch coffee shop, which was among the hardest hit in February with waters inundating the first floor and reaching waist height on the second, owner Matt Ward said the business was evacuated Saturday morning.

Since, he’s been preparing what he hopes is a “minor” flood, sealing the doors to stop water from rushing in.

Hatch specialty coffee owner Matt Ward was hard hit by the floods in February, but this time said he is better prepared.

Elsewhere in the region, emergency responders have been called to help more people whose vehicles have become stranded in the rising waters.

The first was at Gundiah near the intersection of Ayers St and Netherby Rd.

The driver, who was caught in the floods when his car’s engine died just after 9am, was able to make it to land without SES assistance.

Gympie’s skatepark and Jaycee Way was under water on Saturday.

Less than an hour later at Amamoor, another car carrying two people became trapped in floodwaters while driving along the Mary Valley Rd.

The two passengers were also able to escape the car and reach land without emergency assistance.

The Gympie Show has been cancelled on its third and final day as the Mary River continues to rise.

Gympie’s CBD faces its second flood this year.

Organisers of the show announced the sudden closure at 9.30am on Saturday morning, despite an earlier announcement encouraging punters to make it to the show if they could.

It comes as the famous fireworks display was cancelled for Saturday night, with organisers worried about the risk of the Mary River flooding Normanby Bridge – which is the only route between Gympie and the Southside once Kidd Bridge goes under. Those fears were soon realised.

Brothers Kodie and Kai Crowther were among flood watchers at Gympie which is now isolated.

Flood-watchers were out taking photos and checking out the rising river at bridges including Normanby.

Gympie Councillor Bruce Devereaux urged people to stay home, saying “disaster tourism isn’t a thing”.

“In February we had too many people driving around checking out the unfolding drama, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars of additional damage to business owners as a vehicle would coast slowly by sending careless waves into shop fronts and stores, destroying stock which local business owners hadn‘t been able to move yet as they raced the rising waters and worked from the bottom shelves up,” he wrote on his Facebook page

“Not to mention the sheer mess of traffic making walking to a vehicle with arms full an unnecessary danger in an already stressful situation. If you aren‘t able to help, please stay home and watch things play out on your phones or news programs.”

The waters were not expected to inundated Mary St in the heart of the city.

Parts of Gympie have flooded following a torrential downpour causing the Mary River to rise three metres overnight. Pictured here is Brisbane Rd at Monkland, near the One Mile ovals. Photo: John Clough

The Mary River rose three metres overnight, cutting the Bruce Hwy and threatening the Gympie CBD.

The Kidd Bridge, Inglewood Bridge on the Bruce Highway and Bells Bridge on the Wide Bay Highway and Normanby Bridge have all been shut due to the rising floodwaters.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology river levels are expected to peak Saturday evening.

Major flooding is possible at Tiaro late Sunday morning.

The latest downpour and renewed flood threat comes only months after the region was hit by two significant flood events, the first in January when more than 900mm of rain fell on rural areas in a single night and at the end of February when the city was submerged after the Mary River reached a height of

22.96m.

The Gympie Show was cancelled Saturday but went ahead Thursday and Friday.

Not everyone was keen to stick around, however, amid uncertainty about exactly how high floodwaters will go.

Numerous rides were stilled and People Day punters were scarce as a severe weather system began dumping torrential rain across the region, further inundating river systems already swollen from rainfall earlier in the week.

This latest event had not been enough to dampen spirits entirely though with cattle judges and competitors at the Gympie Show holding and completing their events as the weather set in.

Bells Bridge farmer and Show competitor Kerry-Ann Nugent, still recovering from the February flood disaster said, dealing with the uncertainty of what the weather would do this week no different to coping with the past two years of Covid uncertainty.

“You take it in stride and get on with it,” Ms Nugent said.

Bells Bridge residents Kerry-Ann Nugent and her son Jacob were competing at the Show despite the weather, saying like much of the last two years it simply had to be “taken in stride”.

Show president Deb Brown said the sparse crowd was “totally understandable” but the decision to keep the Show running Friday was made given predictions the flood would only peak at 13m.

That height would not threaten the remaining arterial roads that were still open.

However, a number of competitors and food vendors had been able to reach the Show. forcing events to be cancelled.

The Gympie region was covered by significant rainfall at midday Friday.

Mayor Hartwig previously told reporters it was “frustrating” waiting to see what happened but he believed there was not going to be a repeat of the February disaster.

“February was something completely different, it was impossible to predict because we didn’t have any data on it,” he said.

“BOM did not have a flooding event they could compare it to.”

Mr Hartwig said this week’s system was “predictable” with the rain falling in the catchment areas.

“The water we have behind us here now has come from Kenilworth, Conondale and Maleny.

“They’re two completely different events.”