More businesses and residents are being impacted by floods across NSW and QLD. Appliance Retailer contacted several retailers with stores in flood affected areas for an update on how the situation is unfolding.

The Bi-Rite store in Lismore is yet to find out the extent of the damage as they have been unable to return to the CBD.

“Homes and businesses have been completely flooded with the water levels surpassing the 2016/2017 floods by over 2.5 metres and it also reaching different areas in town that escaped the previous floods,” Bi-Rite CEO, AK Sacur told Appliance Retailer.

“Everyone is working tirelessly for the community and providing assistance where safe and possible. The Yamba store hopefully will be okay with the issue being that they will be cut off from other areas with road closures.”

The Bi-Rite store in Murwillumbah has suffered flooding in a large portion of their store but the team are in as good spirits given the rollercoaster they’ve been through.

“Fortunately the damage is nowhere near as bad as surrounding areas. There are other issues though that will impact the town’s speed to recover including access for deliveries as well as shortages of fuel due to damaged tanks at the stations,” Sacur said.

Bi-Rite has not been able to make contact with the store in Kyogle as yet. 

“Within the Brisbane area, the main issue for our team has been road closures which have confined many to their suburb – fortunately all the staff and families are doing well. The roads have greatly improved over the last two days as we got a break from the massive downpour. Forecasts show significant rainfall across the next couple of days so things can change very quickly,” Sacur added.

Camera House managing director, David Burlew says the flood crisis is ‘far from over’.

“The clean-up has commenced in Brisbane and surrounds, but waters in northern rivers NSW are still in flood,” he told Appliance Retailer.

“Most of our members in the flood affected areas have avoided damage to property, stock and equipment, although they are experiencing prolonged interruption to trading. However, not all have been so fortunate, including the Lismore store (pictured below). Need I say anymore.”

The unprecedented conditions have resulted in store closures in Queensland and Northern NSW for Godfreys.

“These locations will remain closed and will only resume operations once safe to do so. The safety, health, and wellbeing of our team members and customers is paramount,” Godfreys general manager for retail Michael Owen told Appliance Retailer.

“Where we can, we will redeploy team members to other stores. Additionally, we have operationalised support mechanisms for our team and their immediate families including the Godfreys Natural Disaster Remuneration Framework and our Employee Assistance Program – Assure. 

“Our team members have responded and are responding to this situation, with resilience, humility, and a complete sense of solidarity and togetherness. We will continue to work closely our stores and our thoughts remain with the wider community during this challenging time,” he added.

Big W has temporarily closed a number of flood-impacted stores in NSW and continues to monitor the situation closely.

“During this challenging time, the safety and wellbeing of our team and local communities in NSW and QLD is our priority,” Big W said in a statement shared with Appliance Retailer.

“We are providing impacted team members with immediate assistance and empowering our teams to support families who have had to evacuate their homes quickly with essential supplies, such as cleaning products, towels, clothing and toys. 

“We are working with our partners at Good360 Australia to match much needed goods with charities and schools in these local communities quickly, as we always do in these times.”

Bunnings is also experiencing impacts to its operations in Queensland and New South Wales due to the extreme weather conditions.

“Our first priority remains looking after any team who are personally impacted and assisting the community to access materials they need as part of the recovery,” Bunnings general manager operations, Matt Tyler said in a statement shared with Appliance Retailer.

Bunnings in Rocklea, Oxley and Lismore are currently closed due to flooding that has occurred on site. In addition to this, rain and flooding has caused access issues for the Ballina store, which has closed as a precaution and will re-open when it’s safe for the community to access.

“We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused while these stores are temporarily closed, and we thank our customers for their understanding. Our teams are working incredibly hard to get these stores back up and running, and we thank them for their amazing work and for prioritising the safety of customers and each other. We will continue to support our teams, SES and local communities during this time,” Tyler added.