Drunk rescued from floodwaters

A drunk driver was rescued by police from floodwaters at Doonan last night before being taken back to the police station for a breath test.

The footpath and some of the road have fallen down on David Low Way at Sunrise Beach. The road was still open at 3.30pm yesterday but closed by Noosa Council. Photo: Cade Mooney

A drunk driver was rescued by police from floodwaters at Doonan last night before being taken back to the police station for a breath test.

Police said they received a call to help a man whose ute got stuck at Beddington Road, near Doonan.

They called in a breathtest operator after the rescued driver was allegedly drunk.

Earlier, two cars collided with a landslip on the Bruce Highway at Black Mountain.

Daily reporter Alan Lander said the landslip was about the size of a car, about 300 metres past the Cooroy turn-off.

There were no serious injuries but police were called in to close the section of the highway. A backhoe was being brought in to remove the debris.

Flooding forced the closure of more than 36 roads around the Sunshine Coast yesterday, with powerful storm water disintegrating part of the David Low Way at Sunshine Beach.

A small section of the road will remain closed to traffic indefinitely while Noosa Council assesses the damage.

Rushing water caused deterioration of the road shoulders, known as scouring, at the pedestrian underpass just north of Burgess Creek bridge.

Narelle Reidcorrect, manager of works administration for Noosa Council, said the situation was a potential disaster.

“The storm water has seriously undermined the road and it will be closed until further notice,” she said.

“This is a major issue and we can’t afford to take any risks. Remediation work is likely to go on at least over the weekend.”

Ms Reid said anyone who lived south of Sunrise Beach or at Castaways and Peregian Beach areas, would need to travel by Eumundi Road, Walter Hay Drive or the Sunshine Motorway, where it comes out at Peregian Springs, then travel back north through Peregian to get home.

“We have never had any problems with the David Low Way, this is an unusual situation,” she said.

“We don’t want to make light of it, it will have a big impact on locals and Coast people. It is a very narrow part (of the road) but the point is you can’t get past it – you can’t drive over or under.”

Noosa Council’s disaster coordinator Ron Thomas said there was a possibility the road could collapse if traffic continued to use the road.

“You can see right down to the pedestrian walkway. There is a chance that the road could collapse. But we think the walkway culvert is holding it up. Even so we need to keep traffic off the road.”

At 3.40pm, Hilton Terrace at Noosaville was too flooded for traffic to pass through safely.

Police reported cases of motorists ignoring “road flooded”signs and driving through waters only to become stuck, especially at Maroochydore Road at Kunda Park.

Traffic controllers were required to control the situation.

Major road closures occurred at Cooroy-Noosa Road at Cooroy, David Low Way at Peregian Beach and Bli Bli, Tewantin Boreen Road at Tewantin, Eumundi Noosa Road at Doonan and Tadina-Coolum Road, Yadina.

The main arterial roads, namely the Bruce Highway, Sunshine Coast Motorway, Nicklin Way, David Low Way, and Caloundra Road from the Bruce Highway to Caloundra remained open.

Roads leading to the Gympie Muster have been closed to conventional vehicles, and are only open to 4WD vehicles.

Anyone thinking of travelling today should check with organisers.

The SES, Main Roads, Maroochydore, Caloundra City, and Noosa shire councils have placed barricades on affected roads for drivers’ safety.

Despite hazardous driving conditions, only a handful of very minor prangs were reported.

By 2pm, there were six minor accidents with no police assistance required.

Originally published as Drunk rescued from floodwaters