Qld floods: Kingsthorpe victim was operating pet moving business

Police are working to determine if there were any animals in a vehicle swept off a road near Toowoomba, killing the male passenger.

A man who drowned when his car was swept off the road near Toowoomba this morning was believed to have been operating his pet moving business at the time.

The New South Wales man was the passenger in a car driven by a woman, who managed to escape in the incident at Kingsthorpe.

Police Acting Superintendent John Bosnjak said it was yet to be established how the woman was able to get to safety.

“They were travelling from North Queensland down into New South Wales, stopped overnight around the Toowoomba area and managed to get into floodwater,” Acting Supt Bosnjak said.

Police cordon off Brimblecombe Rd, Kingsthorpe, near where a man and multiple dogs were killed in floodwaters early on Monday morning.

“The male person was stuck in the vehicle and couldn’t get out.

“… It’s a pet moving business so we’re doing some work as to whether there were animals in the vehicle et cetera.”

It’s the 14th flood-related death in southern Queensland in six weeks.

Police are now searching for a man in his 40s after two vehicles entered floodwaters in the North Branch district of the southern Darling Downs and only one vehicle emerged.

“They’ve currently got air assets in the air trying to locate the male person,” Acting Supt Bosnjak said.