Three dead, entire towns underwater and supermarket shelves stripped bare as horror floods wreak havoc on Australia’s east coast

Supermarket shelves are empty as record floodwaters and heavy rains claim three lives and cut off a large section of a major highway.

The floods on the NSW mid north coast claimed two more victims on Thursday, including a man aged in his thirties found at Rosewood, near the Port Macquarie-Hastings town of Wauchope.

The body of a Dorrigo woman, 60, was later recovered from floodwaters in northern NSW on Thursday afternoon.

The two tragedies followed the death David Knowles, 63, whose body was found at his property on North Moto Road near Coopernook, north of Taree, on Wednesday afternoon.

He was the first victim of an escalating floods crisis north of Newcastle, as four days of heavy downpours approaching 300mm left several people missing.

Record-high floodwaters in Taree have surpassed a 1929 record of six metres.

But at nearby Wingham, the Manning River reached 11.7 metres on Thursday afternoon.

About 50,000 face being cut off by floodwaters as intense rain sparks new evacuation warnings. Duty commander Assistant Commissioner Colin Malone said crews were battling to rescue people in Taree, Glenthorne, Oxley Island and Moto.

‘We’ve seen continual rainfall and very fast flowing rivers, which when combined with flooded roads have made it very difficult to access some isolated people,’ he said.

‘Our crews have been working through the night to complete flood rescues, but our message to people still awaiting rescue, is to remain in safe locations, away from flood waters in dry locations if possible.’

A 36km stretch of the Pacific Highway north of Taree remains closed between Coopernook and Purfleet, stopping semi-trailers from transporting much needed produce to supermarkets.

Port Macquarie is also flooded with the Hastings River set to peak at seven metres upstream at the inland town of Wauchope, which remains cut off from the Oxley Highway.

In Kempsey’s town centre, the Macleay River has also broken a levee bank and is expected to reach 7.3 metres on Thursday night. 

Waterfall Way is also closed between Raleigh and Bellingen, south of Coffs Harbour. 

The bad weather is expected to continue with up to 300mm of rain forecast for Taree, Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour on Thursday night.

Multiple Coles and Woolworths stores across the region have been forced to close.

Supermarkets that remain open have had shelves stripped bare by shoppers fearing they’re next to be cut off.

At Laurieton, south of Port Macquarie, where minor flooding is occurring along the Camden Haven River, the bread shelves were empty at Coles. 

‘We are keeping a close eye on the evolving situation in NSW, and most of our stores remain open with plenty of food and supplies,’ a Coles spokesman told Daily Mail Australia.

‘Our Wingham and Kempsey stores have had to unfortunately close at this stage, and we will reopen these as soon as it is safe to do so.’

‘Our teams are working hard to ensure we have extra food deliveries on their way to our stores, so our communities can be rest assured that we will continue to serve them as long as it’s safe to do so.”

Woolworths has closed its Kempsey supermarket and Big W stores, along with the Woolworths at Macksville following evacuations.

‘These will remain closed until further notice,’ a spokesman said.

But the Woolworths at Taree remains open, as Australia’s biggest supermarket chain keeps all of its supermarkets open between Newcastle and Port Macquarie.

‘Deliveries of essential grocery items continue to travel to most of the impacted communities along the coast,’ the spokesman added.

‘However, customers will find reduced product availability in our Taree and Gloucester stores due to a number of road closures.

‘With a number of communities along the mid north coast remaining on flood watch, we’re continuing to closely monitor conditions and the advice of authorities to ensure the safety of our team and customers.’