The Northern Territory government has requested help from the Australian Defence Force (ADF) with the recovery phase of the ongoing widespread flood disaster in the Top End.
As new vision of the evacuated Nauiyu/Daly River community showed floodwaters reaching roof height, Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro on Saturday said the NT is still yet to shift from an emergency response to recovery mode.
But she said she would be travelling to Canberra on Sunday to discuss how to fund recovery efforts, saying the damage bill could stretch into the tens of millions of dollars.
“This is still a very active response-phase event with multiple events happening at once and we’re still not out of the woods yet,” she said.
Some homes in Katherine were inundated with head-high floodwater. (ABC News: James Elton)
“Everyone first up thinks we should bring in the military and I can understand why, because they are an absolute beacon of safety, but we are required to go through a number of threshold tests before we can make that request.
“We look forward to hearing from the federal government about what ADF support there might be in the recovery phase, bearing in mind we’re not in recovery phase yet.”Daly River flood worst on record
In the meantime, Ms Finocchiaro said 14 prisoners would head to Katherine, accompanied by corrections officers, to help with recovery as the floodwater continues to recede.
She said more than 600 people remained in shelters throughout the territory with the government issuing more than $1.5 million in flood assistance payments.
To Katherine’s north-west in Nauiyu/Daly River, Ms Finocchiaro said record river levels had completely overwhelmed the community, reaching 16.38m at the police station by Saturday afternoon.
Loading…
“Everyone in Daly was evacuated to Darwin and is safe here in Darwin but their homes are inundated,” she said.
“There is not a building in Daly River that is not under water, many of which are under water to the roof.
“This is the highest river level that Daly River has experienced since records began and it is still rising so that will take time.”
Ms Finocchiaro said there is “not a building in Daly River that is not under water.” (Supplied: Dheran Young, member for Daly)
At Kalkarindji, the Victoria River is at 6.22m and rising and could exceed the minor flood level of 9m overnight on Saturday.
Ms Finocchiaro said critical supplies were being brought in after the community was cut off by flooding on the Buntine Highway.
Incident Controller Travis Wurst said Jilkminggan residents had been cleared to return home. But he added that road access was also cut off after the Salt Creek Bridge on the Roper Highway “collapsed as a consequence of the flooding”.
Alice Springs urged to prepare, not panic
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Jude Scott said while there was still “an active weather period right across the Northern Territory”, the “focus of the more intense weather” had shifted away from the Top End.
Loading…
“We will still see isolated totals in excess of 100mm but that’s likely to be focused in the south-western part of the territory,” she said.
Mr Wurst said an incident management team had been set up in Alice Springs to prepare for any potential issues in surrounding isolated communities.
No flash flooding is forecast for Alice Springs. But a separate media release issued by the Territory Emergency Operations Centre said the situation was being closely monitored.
Alice Springs flooding in pictures
“As we all know, there has been a lot of rain in all districts and central Australia is saturated,” NT Police Commander Sonia Kennon said.Â
“It will only take a small amount of water for rivers to flow and flash floods to occur.”
Commander Kennon said residents “don’t need to panic, we need you to prepare”, particularly anyone in areas affected in the recent flood events.
Sandbags were available for collection from the Northern Territory Emergency Service Headquarters at 32 Wilkinson Street on Saturday and between 8am-4pm on Sunday.
Owners of cars parked in underground car parks could consider moving them to higher ground, the release said.
Darwin River Dam back online
With all four pumps reconnected to power the Darwin River Dam had returned to normal operations on Saturday morning, authorities said.
Sudden flooding at Darwin River shocks residents
Historic flash flooding at the pump station took Darwin’s main drinking supply offline earlier this week, prompting a boil water alert and a request to reduce water use.
Darwin River residents affected by the flooding were able to apply for relief payments from Saturday.
A makeshift donations centre has been set up at the back of the local pub by residents Laurel Springate and Karen Percival.
“We’re locals and you’ve gotta just come together in times like this, when you see especially friends and family going through what they’re going through,” Ms Percival said.
“It’s pretty heartbreaking.”
Kids toys, clothing and household essentials have been donated to flood-affected Darwin River residents. (ABC News: Matilda Colling)
What Ms Springate originally thought would be a table’s worth of donations has taken over more than six.
She said some people had driven over an hour to make the donations.
“Our most urgent need at the moment with families starting to do clean-ups is we need more storage tubs or different sizes,” Ms Springate said.
“We’re taking a list [of volunteers] so once we hear people are ready, we can pass that list out.”