Bruce Highway cut, traffic chaos, drivers told to stay off road

Police will soon completely close the Bruce Hwy north of Caboolture, with the region already cut off to the south. It comes as 1200 people have just lost power after 48 hours of non-stop rain and residents have been warned to prepare to evacuate.

Police will soon close northbound and southbound lanes of the Bruce Hwy, throwing already chaotic roads into a standstill as Caboolture faces being cut off for the first time since 2015.

It comes as 1200 people lost power about 2.30pm this afternoon.

Residents in Dale St and Susan Crt, Burpengary have been contacted by Council to advise they need to prepare to evacuate if rain continues.

The cause of the power outage is not known but could be a tree fall, with Energex crews on their way to investigate.

Most of the outages are in Caboolture South, with only 59 homes in Caboolture township itself affected, an Energex spokesman said.

The southbound lanes of the Bruce Hwy were closed at the Toorbul exit (157 exit) just after 2pm at King John Creek Bridge just to the north of Caboolture.

The Bruce Hwy is about to be closed where it crosses King John Creek. FILE PHOTO

QldTraffic image of the highway this afternoon near King John Bridge.

Traffic was being diverted into the northbound lanes but a police source said the entire highway was likely to be cut soon.

Transport Minister Mark Bailey this afternoon confirmed the highway was blocked earlier in the day to southbound traffic.

“We’ve closed a 4.5km stretch of the Bruce Hwy southbound at Caboolture due to flooding, and it’s expected to stay closed for 24 hours,” Mr Bailey said.

“This means traffic will be reduced to one lane each way for people travelling between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast.

“This is expected to create significant delays, so we are asking people to avoid the area.

“Further north, the Bruce Hwy is cut off just south of Gympie, and the Lamington Bridge in Maryborough is also flooded.

“To the west, Toowoomba Connection Road is closed up and down the range.’’

Beerburrum Rd was closed earlier today at Elimbah. Picture: Richard Walker

Caboolture was also close to being isolated to the south, with water almost over the Council bridge at Centenary Lakes.

Numerous Moreton roads were closed earlier today, including Burpengary Rd, with traffic diverted.

But in many cases the alternative routes were also cut.

It is believed to be the first time since the 2015 floods that the heavily populated area from Morayfield to Caboolture has become isolated.

Traffic across Moreton has been in chaos with long delays all afternoon and now getting worse.

Police were directing traffic at the corner of Marayfield Rd and King St after the lights failed.

Youngs Rd had water over it by about 3pm and 10 cars were stuck in water earlier in the day at Centenary Lakes.

The Bribie Island road from North Lakes to Ningi was still open about 3.30pm, but with the tide peaking about 4.40pm roads in that area could be cut.

Morayfield shopping centre carpark was partially evacuated earlier in the day after rising water caused sewage to overflow.

Some residents have reported more than 100mm in their rain gauges since early this morning, with rain continuing to fall.

Old North Road at Rocksberg was closed due to flooding earlier today. Picture: Richard Walker

One lucky driver was recovering at the pub after becoming stuck in floodwaters near Stony Creek, northwest of Caboolture.

Police responded to a call for help from the man after he became trapped in flood waters along the D’Aguilar Hwy earlier this morning.

But by the time crews arrived the man had managed to drive his car out of danger and had gone to the local pub.

Police were also called to Beerburrum Rd at Elimbah about 8.50am after reports of another car stuck in floodwaters.

Police said by the time they had arrived the motorist had managed to drive their car out of the shallow flood waters to safety.