Bushfires that have closed major highways on the Nullarbor could end up costing the economy millions of dollars and cause widespread food shortages, with the situation set to get worse before it gets better.
Emergency supplies, including medicine, are being brought in to Norseman and Caiguna.
The peak body for road transport companies in WA warned the bushfires would start to have an impact on food prices and possibly medicines in Perth.
“Things that we are bringing across from the east … things like cherries, stone fruit, watermelon, pumpkin, they’ll run into short supply,” Western Roads Federation CEO Cam Dumesny said.
“On the other side of the coin, our seafood, avocado and lettuce producers are having problems because we can’t get their produce to market on the east coast.”
Both Woolworths and Coles have warned shoppers to expect food shortages.
