The river was expected to peak at about 15.3 metres or higher \u2013 the highest since 1998 \u2013 by around Wednesday, rising from 10 metres last Monday, with flooding likely to persist for more than a week.<\/p>\n
The Katherine River was slowly subsiding on Monday morning, having peaked at 19.2 metres before midnight on Saturday \u2013 its highest level since 1998 \u2013 with streets and low-lying parts of the community inundated.<\/p>\n
Mayor Joanna Holden, of Katherine town council, said she had never seen so many fresh and saltwater crocodiles in local flood waters before.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was actually a saltwater crocodile on the AFL oval last night,\u201d she said. \u201cIt just adds another element of danger to the whole cleanup.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Sunday, NT residents were warned to stay out of flood waters due to the risk of wastewater overflows and crocodiles<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are crocs absolutely everywhere \u2026 please don\u2019t go in the water,\u201d NT incident control acting commander, Shaun Gill said Sunday morning.<\/p>\n Hundreds of people across flood-affected communities of Palumpa, Jilkminggan and Nauiyu (Daly River) have been fully evacuated to Darwin, according to SecureNT, with at least seven schools closed in Katherine<\/a> and five shut across the Big Rivers region as of Monday.<\/p>\n The NT health department also issued \u201cboil water\u201d alerts to communities including Katherine, Wugularr (Beswick), Tindal, Palumpa and Nauiyu (Daly River) advising people to use boiled or bottled water for drinking, preparing food or baby formula or brushing teeth.<\/p>\n Major transport routes, including the Stuart, Victoria, Roper and Buchanan highways and Central Arnhem Road, remained closed in parts due to flooding.<\/p>\n Dheran Young, the local member for Daly in the NT represents people across large swathes of remote and rugged country \u2013 an area roughly the size of Tasmania.<\/p>\n While many residents were used to heavy rains cutting off roads and isolating communities for months during the wet season, he said many were worried and frustrated by the official response to the disaster, which included evacuating two communities Daly River and Palumpa, over the weekend.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has been a challenging time for residents. Many people have been calling me about the anxiety they\u2019re feeling about having to leave their community and come into Darwin, but also now the relief that they are out,\u201d Young said.<\/p>\n With many residents vulnerable, he feared that access to essential goods such as food and medicine would be at risk.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are cut off and isolated and are in very remote locations,\u201d Young said.<\/p>\n![\"Aerial](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773029588_69_2048.jpg\")
Aerial footage shows swollen Katherine Gorge \u2013 video<\/p>\n