Heavy rain soaks the Barkly and Central Australia, closing roads and inundating cattle stations
Flooding on Sunday at Lake Nash Cattle Station on the Barkly Tableland. (Supplied: Erin Gibson)
In short:
Heavy rain is lashing parts of the Barkly and Central Australia, with some areas of the Barkly recording hundreds of millimetres over the past few days.
Dozens of roads have been closed, impacting transport and freight across the Northern Territory, while cattle stations have been inundated by rain.
What’s next?
BOM says locally intense rainfall that could lead to dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding is possible across the southern Barkly and northern Simpson districts.
Heavy rain across large parts of the Barkly and Central Australia over the past three days has closed roads and inundated cattle stations, with more wet weather forecast to be on the way.
A tropical low has been circling in recent days in the Simpson and parts of the Barkly and Tanami areas, bringing heavy local rainfall and damaging winds.
The severe weather is expected to continue into tonight and into early tomorrow morning, with a storm watch and act declared today.
A map by the Bureau of Meterology shows expected rainfall around the country today.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has advised locally intense rainfall that could lead to dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding is possible across the southern Barkly and northern Simpson districts, as well as rainfall totals of up to 200 millimetres and damaging winds of up to 90 kilometres per hour.
It is also forecasting the chance of thunderstorms tonight across much of the NT, excluding the south-west, and severe thunderstorms in a broad area south of Daly Waters.
The BOM said it could not be certain about the position and strength of the upcoming wet weather, but urged residents to stay up-to-date with warnings.
“These conditions also threaten cattle and other livestock,” the bureau said.
Locations that could be affected include Ali Curung, Arltunga, Ti Tree, Jervois, Barrow Creek and Ampilatwatja.
Flooding at Lake Nash Station on Sunday left only treetops visible. (Supplied: Erin Gibson)
Cattle stations impacted
Cattle stations across Central Australia and the Barkly have been bearing the brunt of some of the largest rainfalls over the weekend.
At Elkedra Station, 400 kilometres north of Alice Springs, the property received between 220 millimetres and 620 millimetres over 48 hours — more than double their yearly average rainfall.
Station owner Amber Driver said it was a “once-in-a-lifetime” event, exceeding any flooding they had on their station in four generations.
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“We really don’t know the impact through the catchment … but at the house it is significant, it’s been nearly two metres through the homestead,” Ms Driver said.
“It’s been through several other building sheds, there’s been extensive damage with trees over [and] just the rate the water encroached.”
Ms Driver was in Alice Springs while the flooding happened, but said two workers on the station had been making an “incredible effort” to get everything to higher ground.
“The big, big challenge today is seeing what’s salvageable and getting some power to the building,”
she said.
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About 400 kilometres south-east of Tennant Creek along the Northern Territory-Queensland border, Lake Nash Station received more than 550mm of rain in some gauges over the weekend, with up to 350mm falling in some areas on Friday night alone.
Station manager Erin Gibson said while the rain had come close to causing damage to the station, staff efforts to move equipment and machinery at risk had meant the station was prepared.
“We haven’t suffered too much damage anywhere,” Mr Gibson said.
“There will be a few cows in the wrong place … but if it stops at that, we’re very lucky.”
A tropical low has brought significant rainfall to central parts of the Northern Territory, including Lake Nash Station. (Supplied: Erin Gibson)
Roads closed due to flooding
Dozens of roads have been closed across the NT due to the recent flooding.
The NT’s main arterial road between Darwin and Adelaide, the Stuart Highway, was previously closed between Tennant Creek and Ali Curung, but reopened on Monday afternoon.
In a statement, emergency management agency SecureNT said there was significant water over the highway between Alice Springs and Tennant Creek and some sections of the road had been damaged.
It said contractors would be onsite tomorrow to conduct repairs.
Motorists are being encouraged to check the Road Report website for the latest road information.
Speaking on Monday morning, NT Road Transport Association chief executive Louise Bilato said it was “frustrating” that the Stuart Highway, the NT’s national freight route, had been closed because of flooding.
“Essentially, the [Northern] Territory is marooned,”
Ms Bilato said.
“It’s a good example of why we need governments in a bipartisan way to look at the flood mitigation on our national freight corridors seriously.”
Ms Bilato said it was hard to predict how long freight would be impacted and how quickly the roads would return to normal after flooding.
She said while there was no livestock on the roads at the moment, plans for camels slated for live export from the bottom of the NT had been delayed.
“What’s the magic number that we [think] is okay for the roads to be closed?,” Ms Bilato said.
“We need to ask the federal and Territory governments, it is five days that it’s okay for the Stuart Highway to be closed annually, or is it 50?
“Because every Australian needs to have confidence that they can be fed, and we don’t have that confidence.”
Todd and Charles rivers flowing again
In Alice Springs, SecureNT has issued a flood advice alert for the Todd and Charles rivers as rainfall caused the rivers to flow again.
At Anzac Oval in the centre of Alice Springs, the Todd River has risen to 2.4 metres, but is falling, while the Charles River has reached 0.74m and remains steady.
Causeways across the Todd River are closed, including Schwarz Crescent, Wills Terrace, Tuncks Road, Stephens Road and Palm Circuit.
“The water level [is] expected to continue to drop unless there is further significant falls over the catchment,” SecureNT said in a statement.
But the agency advised moderate rainfall across the catchment was expected over the next few hours, meaning residents should stay up-to-date with emergency advice.
“Even though the current rainfall into Alice Springs is as anticipated, we are on the edge of that severe weather warning for the Simpson district, so there is the chance of severe thunderstorms that bring more rain,” NT Police Commander James Gray-Spence said.
“What we’re saying is be alert, monitor the [BOM] website, look at SecureNT, as the flood advice can change and households need to be prepared for those sudden changes, given the nature of the Todd River and the nature of flash flooding.”
