COFFEE shop chinwags were halted at Harry’s Place Cafe in Rosewood while its owners struggled to find the grocery supplies needed to keep customers fed.
The popular meeting point is usually bustling with activity but ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred’s effect halted wholesale deliveries.
“We had no produce, bread and milk,” the cafe’s owner Harry Pizanias said when we spoke with him on Tuesday afternoon.
“We couldn’t stock up from the local grocery stores because there were purchase limits and there were low stock numbers there too.
“We were shut on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, reopened Monday.
“I’ve had a lot of people coming in from not just Rosewood, but Ebenezer and Calvert, too.
“People say it feels like Covid again. There’s a burden on them because they’re unable to get to work and losing income.
“Some people say sandbags are being stolen from their house.
“A guy who came from Yamanto said he had to come a second time around to get sandbags because when he woke up his were gone.
“People ask why I don’t have sandbags around my shop, but I think there are others who need them more than I do.”
He’s had Harry’s Place Cafe for 10 years and his regular customers know him as well as he knows them.
The cafe’s most popular hot drink is an almond milk latte.
“We have plenty of that at the moment but if it runs out, we’ll compromise and make do,” he said.
Area Controller for SES South Eastern Region Danni Bull said areas hit hardest by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred were the Gold Coast, Logan and Tamborine, then through Ipswich and Somerset.
“Somerset has water coming through from Laidley and the Lowood area so we are waiting to see where it all goes,” Ms Bull said on Tuesday morning.
“Call outs have been for chain sawing and cutting up trees across driveways, trees that have come down and tarping roofs.
“Initially, it was sandbagging tasks and helping the more vulnerable people within the community.”
