Supermarkets in northern New South Wales are quickly running out of supplies as residents scramble to stock up.
David Hausfeld, who lives at Nunderi, managed to get to an open supermarket at nearby Pottsville.
"This is the only place we can get to to get food, so we made our way to here," he said.
"It's very crowded — there's a lot of active people in there.
"The shops are full."
Mr Hausfeld said many were tolerating the 20-minute wait to get groceries at Pottsville.
"As we are all desperate," he said.
Highway flood strands truckies
With parts of the Pacific Highway inundated, truck drivers are stranded near Grafton, blocked from delivering essential supplies.
Sukhwinder Singh is among those queued on the roadside at Glenugie, south of Grafton.
"All the rest areas are full and all the trucks are on the side of the road," he said.
"We don't know how long [it will take] to clear the road."
Mr Singh, who is from Sydney, was en route to Brisbane to deliver groceries for Coles.
Thankfully his truck is full of non-perishables that will not spoil.
"It's all dry stuff," he said.
Search for different routes
In a statement, a Coles Group spokeswoman said the supermarket giant was working hard with its transport and supply partners to reroute deliveries to flood-affected parts of NSW.
Coles said it had been in contact with carriers to ensure the safety of its truck drivers.
"We did have a B-Double carrying bottled water stuck in the queue," the spokeswoman said.
"Coles made this stock available to police to distribute to stranded motorists on the side of the highway."
Other truckies stuck on the Pacific Highway, like Darren Markwell, are bracing for a longer wait.
"I've got food, water, so I should be right," he said.
The ABC has contacted the Transport Workers Union for comment.
