Police have just clarified that the Bruce Highway is now open. It was closed earlier.
Police have had requests to rescue 23 people and 11 vehicles so far. The safety of eight of those people has been verified, police say. The remaining 15 appear to be unaccounted for. Annastacia Palaszczuk:
They’re working to access these people. We will update you during the day.
Police have been unable to retrieve the body of the man who died at Kanigan, after being swept away by floodwaters.
The floodwaters are causing police immense difficulties in accessing affected areas.
The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, is speaking about the flood emergency now.
She says: I can say that we do have a severe weather event at the moment. I think everyone would know that we had ex-tropical cyclone Seth off our coast. It crossed over and has been sitting around this Wide Bay region and has not moved, is producing storms, and excessive rainfall, like what we saw during tropical cyclone Oswald.
So we do have locally intense rainfall, which may lead to flash flooding. We have the areas between Bundaberg and Kilroy, including Gympie, where we expect this rainfall to be there over the next few hours as well. But we also have a major flood warning that has been issued for Maryborough.
Queensland floods: man dies and roads and towns cut off
Queensland is currently grappling with a major flood emergency across the Wide Bay and Burnett regions, which has washed away highways and cut off towns.
Tragically, police have just confirmed that one person has died after his vehicle was submerged in flood waters at Kanigan, Wide Bay.
Police said in a statement: Police are investigating the death of a man after his vehicle became submerged in flood waters at Kanigan, Wide Bay last night (Friday, January 8).
Around 7.30pm, police and emergency services received a report of a utility being swept off the road on Cherry Tree Road near the Bruce Highway, and into floodwaters.
Following an extensive response involving police and fire and rescue swift water crews, the driver and sole occupant of the vehicle, a 22-year-old Sunshine Coast man, was located deceased inside the vehicle this morning.
The areas around Gympie recorded huge rainfalls since early Friday. Marodian recorded 673mm while Mount Kanigan saw 650mm. The Bruce Highway is shut north of Gympie and Granville, a rural suburb of Maryborough, is about to be cut off by flood waters.
More storms are expected today across eastern Queensland.
The Northern Territory has reported another daily Covid-19 case record with 594 infections diagnosed overnight, AAP reports.
The figure – until 8pm on Friday – is up from 412 reported the previous day.
The health minister, Natasha Fyles, says the virus has spread to every region in the territory as the number of active cases grows to 1200.
“It is concerning that we have had significant escalation in the numbers but we expected this,” she told reporters on Friday.
“We can still manage these numbers that we’re seeing and I expect these numbers to grow over the coming days.”
Meanwhile, an investigation is under way into cases in Nhulunbuy in east Arnhem Land, about 700km east of Darwin.
More than 20 infections were also detected in Alice Springs and one was detected in Tennant Creek, 510km to the north.
A territory-wide lockout of unvaccinated people aged 16 and over started on Thursday and will continue until midday on Monday when a proof of vaccination pass system will be rolled out.
It will run on the territory’s check-in app and apply to most hospitality and entertainment venues.
Under the lockout, unvaccinated people can only leave their homes for medical treatment and testing, essential goods and services, and to care for a vulnerable person.
They are not permitted to go to workplaces or travel more than 30km.
(With inputs from agencies)