{"id":556828,"date":"2026-03-22T10:44:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T10:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/556828\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T10:44:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T10:44:11","slug":"fresh-flood-threat-in-sodden-far-north-queensland-towns-as-system-hits-northern-territory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/556828\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresh flood threat in sodden Far North Queensland towns as system hits Northern Territory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tom Wark and Melissa Meehan<\/p>\n

Updated March 22, 2026 \u2014 3:24pm,first published 12:32pm<\/p>\n

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A powerful storm is threatening an exhausted and already sodden Top End community with more flooding despite the multi-state system being downgraded from cyclone strength.<\/p>\n

Ex-tropical cyclone Narelle weakened on Sunday after passing over remote Cape Shield in the Northern Territory\u2019s eastern Arnhem Land as a category 2 system before 8am.<\/p>\n

The weather system continued moving west throughout the day, packing wind gusts of up to 100km\/h and bringing heavy rain as it shifted towards Western Australia.<\/p>\n

Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said there were no early indications of major damage to infrastructure and no reports of injuries as the cyclone skirted population centres.<\/p>\n

But the threat remained in the regional hub of Katherine, which she said was expected to see higher flood levels than those recorded after downpours a fortnight earlier.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Tropical<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is our seventh high risk weather event \u2026 the ground is saturated, our rivers are already full and any additional rainfall is going to make a significant impact,\u201d Finocchiaro told reporters on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Major flooding was expected in surrounding rivers on Monday after the storm\u2019s expected arrival on Sunday night.<\/p>\n

Darwin was also included in a huge swathe of the territory covered by severe weather warnings.<\/p>\n

Katherine mayor Joanna Holden said locals were prepared but stretched after the previous flooding, which was the worst in at least two decades.<\/p>\n

\"FloodingFlooding across Cairns on Friday caused by Cyclone Narelle.Queensland Traffic<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people are exhausted, both physically and emotionally,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have just gone through and cleaned out their damaged businesses and everything, and now here we are back sandbagging again.\u201d<\/p>\n

An army of volunteers, with the help of Australian Defence Force personnel, worked to prepare the town.<\/p>\n

The Bureau of Meteorology said the ex-cyclone was the first weather system in more than two decades that was expected to span three states or territories.<\/p>\n

\"CrewsCrews start the clean-up.<\/p>\n

Narelle crossed Cape York in far-north Queensland on Friday as a category 4 system, the second-highest classification.<\/p>\n

The storm is due to move over the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf on Monday, potentially strengthening again to a category-two system with the potential to cause damage to homes.<\/p>\n

Communities are also warned to expect abnormally high sea levels that could cause flooding of low-lying areas.<\/p>\n

Flood warnings are in place across much of the Top End, including in the previously inundated community of Daly River.<\/p>\n

Up to 30 patients, including nine pregnant women, were evacuated from Katherine Hospital in anticipation of ex-cyclone Narelle worsening the delicate flooding situation in the town.<\/p>\n

\"AA roof blown off a structure in Coen.<\/p>\n

Warnings are also in place for large swathes of WA.<\/p>\n

People across the Kimberley have been told to prepare for the likelihood of heavy rain on Monday.<\/p>\n

Disaster assistance payments of up to $1500 per family are being rolled out across the Northern Territory for those already impacted by the storm.<\/p>\n

In Queensland, the clean-up from the cyclone continues with energy crews working to restore power to homes.<\/p>\n

\"TropicalTropical Cyclone Narelle swept over the Cape York Peninsula, narrowly missing populated communities.Facebook<\/p>\n

Police have delivered fuel to remote communities on Cape York to help locals recover from the storm, which brought down trees and ripped off roofs as it passed.<\/p>\n

AAP<\/p>\n

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From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tom Wark and Melissa Meehan Updated March 22, 2026 \u2014 3:24pm,first published 12:32pm Save You have reached your…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556829,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,75,128],"class_list":["post-556828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556828","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=556828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}