“We printed seven dailies in Yandina last night, and will have to juggle things some more tonight,” operations regional general manager Gary Osborne told GXpress.

“We’re relatively used to floods, but there’s been nothing like (the flash floods in) Toowoomba yesterday.”

Osborne says all APN’s sites have so far escaped flooding or damage. Most are located out of city centres, and the new plant in Toowoomba is almost 12 kilometres out of town, safely away from the CBD where sudden flooding led to cars and trees being bounced through the main street, and lives lost.

Despite heavy rain and floods in the areas, plants in Mackay and Rockhampton are operating, although supplies are getting short. Although undamaged, APN’s busy sheetfed plant in Warwick had to close when the area was cleared ahead of expected flooding.

Production of APN’s Ipswich daily ‘The Queensland Times’ was switched to Yandina last night, and with the Bruce Highway currently cut at Caboolture, may be printed at the group’s Ballina, NSW, print site tonight.

“Yandina has been very busy, and we are able to get into most parts of the Sunshine Coast from there at the moment, but the route south to Brisbane remains a problem,” he says.

Although access to Gympie has been cut from the south, Osborne says the ‘Gympie Times’ has been printed early in order to allow extra time for detours into the city area.