{"id":504723,"date":"2026-02-26T06:24:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T06:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/504723\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T06:24:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T06:24:11","slug":"nt-cattle-stations-assess-flood-damage-as-rain-in-central-australia-declared-natural-disaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/504723\/","title":{"rendered":"NT cattle stations assess flood damage, as rain in central Australia declared natural disaster"},"content":{"rendered":"

Northern Territory cattle stations face months of clean-up, as the NT and federal governments activate disaster assistance for flood-affected communities across central Australia.<\/p>\n

A slow-moving tropical low has brought heavy rainfall to central Australia and the Barkly region, with several stations reporting over 500 millimetres of rain since last week.<\/p>\n

Elkedra Station’s Amber Driver said the property received more than 600mm of rain.<\/p>\n

She was only able to return home yesterday to assess the damage and start cleaning up.<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

Ms Driver said the flooding was an “unprecedented, unbelievable weather event”, and her family was only able to save a few photos and belongings from the house.<\/p>\n

“You never can really prepare for that level of destruction,” Ms Driver said.<\/p>\n

“It’s a life of memories and belongings. If they weren’t washed down the river, they’re sort of upside down in the house.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Amber Driver says the damage to roads on her property will take a long time to repair. (Supplied: Amber Driver)<\/p>\n

Under the disaster assistance program, primary producers can claim a freight subsidy for up to 50 per cent of eligible costs, capped at $5,000.<\/p>\n

Eligible non-profit organisations can also apply for grants of up to $10,000 to repair significant asset damage.<\/p>\n

Ms Driver said it would be a long recovery process, with new fencing materials, food and building supplies required.<\/p>\n

She said the roads around her station, 210 kilometres south-east of Tennant Creek, were severely damaged, and the local council estimated 85 per cent of the region’s roads were impacted.<\/p>\n

Loading…Calls for new BOM radar<\/p>\n

NT Cattlemen’s Association chief executive Romy Carey said the scale of the damage was heartbreaking.<\/p>\n

Ms Carey said eligibility for freight subsidies under the disaster recovery model should be expanded, and called for more flood preparedness in the region.<\/p>\n

She said a new weather radar at Tennant Creek was vital to help stations manage future floods.<\/p>\n

The town’s radar shut down in 2015, and Ms Carey claimed a new radar had been purchased and was ready to be installed.<\/p>\n

“We know that radar has been purchased and is sitting in a container waiting for installation,” Ms Carey said.<\/p>\n

“We’ve heard the myriad of excuses around the delay, but the reality is that a radar is not a luxury item.”\"A<\/p>\n

A shed damaged by the flood on Elkedra Station. (Supplied: Amber Driver)<\/p>\n

A Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) spokesperson said progress on the Tennant Creek radar had been delayed because a suitable site had not been agreed on.<\/p>\n

The spokesperson said a location should be finalised in the next month and the radar would be operating within 12 to 18 months.<\/p>\n

BOM duty forecaster Hannah Whiteside said the tropical low responsible for the rain and flooding was likely to track back towards the NT, south-east of Alice Springs.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Amber Driver says she avoided going into the house for as long as possible. (Supplied: Amber Driver)<\/p>\n

Body found in remote river<\/p>\n

Meantime, NT Police have located the body of a man reported missing from the remote community of Willowra, north-west of Alice Springs, on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The man was last seen swimming in the Lander River near the community, but search efforts were delayed by the weather.<\/p>\n

Police said the man’s body was recovered today and a report would be prepared for the coroner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Northern Territory cattle stations face months of clean-up, as the NT and federal governments activate disaster assistance for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504724,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,13331,126176,25273,253604,35216,253605,44,4759],"class_list":["post-504723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cattle","tag-central-australia","tag-damage","tag-disaster-assistance","tag-flood","tag-freight-subsidy","tag-news","tag-stations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504723","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=504723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}