{"id":390482,"date":"2026-01-04T06:16:31","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T06:16:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/390482\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T06:16:31","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T06:16:31","slug":"top-end-dams-overflow-as-parks-come-to-life-in-the-wake-of-cyclone-fina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/390482\/","title":{"rendered":"Top End dams overflow as parks come to life in the wake of Cyclone Fina"},"content":{"rendered":"

Each year around Christmas, Judy Hinchliffe and John Rutherford head out to Fogg Dam, outside Darwin, to soak up the peace and natural beauty of the reserve.<\/p>\n

Outside of its spectacular bird life, rich tropical flora and world-famous reptilian residents, they say they “hardly ever see a soul” when they make their annual pilgrimage.<\/p>\n

“But this year, we’ve got a spectator sport because we can watch people going through the floodwater,” Ms Hinchliffe said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Fogg Dam is known to locals and tourists alike for its spectacular wildlife. (ABC News: Tristan Hooft)<\/p>\n

“We’ve never actually seen it as flooded as this.”<\/p>\n

In a decade of heading to Fogg Dam, they’ve never seen it shine with such an abundance of water, as the Top End bursts into life from an unusually heavy start to its annual wet season.<\/p>\n

Their observations have been backed up by authorities from the Northern Territory’s Power and Water Corporation (PWC), who have witnessed Darwin’s main drinking water supply fill to the brim.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Darwin couple Judy Hinchliffe and John Rutherford have never seen Fogg Dam so filled with water in their decade of visiting the reserve. (ABC News: Tristan Hooft)<\/p>\n

Darwin River Dam began topping its spillway on New Year’s Eve after the catchment received more than 200 millimetres of rain during December.<\/p>\n

PWC’s senior water services coordinator, Danny Browne, said it was rare to see so much water so early in the season.<\/p>\n

“I’ve been in this role for 15 years now, and this is the earliest I’ve ever seen it spill,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Danny Browne says the dam started overflowing at about 4pm on New Year’s Eve. (ABC News: Tristan Hooft)<\/p>\n

“It’s also the fastest I’ve ever seen it come up.<\/p>\n

“It’s very exciting for us to know we’re going into the new year with a reservoir full of water.<\/p>\n

“It’s good for our water security.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Matt Bochow showing his daughter Matilda the brimming flood plains at Fogg Dam on New Year’s Day. (ABC News: Tristan Hooft)<\/p>\n

Early cyclone, monsoon fills dam<\/p>\n

Mr Browne said the rise was largely due to Cyclone Fina dousing the region in November \u2014 one of the earliest recorded cyclones to impact the Top End in a season.<\/p>\n

“In that 24-hour period, the dam did rise very quickly, about 800 millimetres,” he said.<\/p>\n

“So that was quite a milestone for me to see that rapid increase over a very short period of time.”\"Sightseers\"<\/p>\n

Fogg Dam is world famous for its natural beauty which comes alive in the Top End’s wet season. (ABC News: Tristan Hooft)<\/p>\n

He said a monsoon system which formed in the territory over the week of Christmas also helped.<\/p>\n

While the wet season is traditionally the quieter time for tourism in the Top End, visitors and residents have been venturing out to see how the water’s brought its national parks to life.<\/p>\n

Among them, Marrakai resident Bevan Clancy visited Fogg Dam on New Year’s Day.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Top End sightseers have benefited from an unusually heavy start to the annual rainy season. (ABC News: Tristan Hooft)<\/p>\n

“It’s a lot better than normal. We usually get the late rains, but it’s good to see the water levels up real high this early in the season,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s good to see the country all green again.”<\/p>\n

Interstate visitor Cheryl Lockwood travelled north to see her family over the holidays, and was among those lapping up the serenity at Fogg Dam.<\/p>\n

\"Water<\/p>\n

Darwin River Dam rose about 800 millimetres in a 24-hour period following Cyclone Fina. (ABC News: Tristan Hooft)<\/p>\n

“It’s just beautiful, so green, and lots of water and birds, and it’s just really nice,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Each year around Christmas, Judy Hinchliffe and John Rutherford head out to Fogg Dam, outside Darwin, to soak…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,17702,209112,5503,145729,12457,5249,25155,169015,96964,94844,209111,7987,31401,28336,10780,142913,44,1098,209113,16633,15157,19306,7743,161,115738,209114,2176,19081,6771,11814,21310,103800,338],"class_list":["post-390482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-birds","tag-catchments","tag-christmas","tag-cyclone","tag-dam","tag-darwin","tag-drinking-water","tag-fina","tag-flooded","tag-floodwater","tag-fogg","tag-full","tag-holidays","tag-levels","tag-monsoon","tag-new-year","tag-news","tag-nt","tag-power-water","tag-pwc","tag-rain","tag-rise","tag-river","tag-season","tag-spill","tag-spillway","tag-supply","tag-top-end","tag-tourism","tag-water","tag-water-security","tag-wet","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}