On Katherine’s fourth day under an emergency flood warning, residents are being warned that while water levels are receding, the town is “not out of the woods yet”.
Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro also confirmed rail and road routes had opened up for the supply of food across the Top End.
As of 12:30pm Monday, water levels of the Katherine River were sitting at 16.9 metres, which is classed as moderate flooding.
Katherine remains under an emergency flood warning as the water begins to recede and supply lines open up. (ABC News: James Elton)
But the Bureau of Meteorology’s (BOM) NT hazard preparedness and response manager Shenagh Gamble said heavy rainfall meant the situation would continue to be treated as a “major flood”.
“So for the Katherine township we could still, with the rainfall that we’ve seen, go back up into major flood at Katherine Bridge,” she said.
NT Police Incident Controller Shaun Gill said his message to the community was to “stay where you are”, as water receded from the town’s worst flood in 28 years.
“Please stay in the shelter, [or] if you’ve got a shelter at home, stay there at the moment,” he said.
“I want people to limit movement on the road so our emergency services people can restore, get an understanding of the situation, make sure that we’re surveyed correctly and make sure all the critical infrastructure is up and running in terms of power.”
Shaun Gill asked people in Katherine to continue sheltering until waters recede. (ABC News: Aidan Daly)
In a town of 10,000 people, the incident controller said about 700 were currently being housed in emergency shelters.
The chief minister told ABC Radio Darwin earlier on Monday there was still a number of houses in Katherine without power, but that it had dropped from 1,500 on Sunday to 600 on Monday morning.
She said about 450 homes were also without any sewerage.
Many roads in Katherine cture around Katherine has been damaged by the flooding. (Facebook: Jo Hersey)
Schools across Katherine, along with the hospital and courts were closed on Monday.
A temporary emergency department has been stood up at the St John Ambulance NT headquarters in Katherine’s industrial area.
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Acting Commander Gill said emergency services were still in the “response phase” in Katherine, and re-establishing services was the next priority.
Schools, hospitals, roads closed amid flooding
“The timings aren’t clear, but our priority is to try and get the schools up-and-running, the government buildings up-and-running and get essential services going.”
He said the concurrent flooding in Katherine, Daly River, Palumpa, Jilkminggan and other communities required a large-scale operation.
Daly River/Nauiyu set to ‘exceed 1957 flood level’
Meanwhile as residents from Daly River/Nauiyu have all been evacuated to Darwin, the community continues to face major flooding of over 14.8 metres and rising.
It is the second time this year the community has been hit by major flooding. February’s flooding peaked at 14.2 metres.
Ms Gamble said the BOM expected the Daly River to “continue rising throughout the week”, and that its peak in the community would likely “exceed the 1957 flood level of 15.19 metres” — the second largest flood on record for the town.
Ms Gamble said while the current levels were not expected to surpass the Daly River’s worst flood on record — 16.25m in 1998 — it is still a “wait to see” scenario.
“It’s going to depend on the amount of rain that continues to fall in the Daly River and the amount of time that it stays above major [flood level],” she said.
She noted “because the Daly River is so slow to rise and so slow to fall”, it was vulnerable to further flooding if there was more heavy rain.
Daly River residents have again been evacuated to Foskey Pavilion at the Darwin showgrounds due to flooding concerns.
Daly River residents have been evacuated to Darwin, as the river continues to rise. (ABC News: Luisa Santucci)
Residents from Palumpa/Nganmarriyanga have also been evacuated to Darwin, while locals from Jilkminggan have been evacuated to Mataranka School in the nearby town.
Are relief payments available?
The chief minister said disaster assistance payments for Katherine had been activated with the support of the federal government.
While she said the payments should be available from Monday, she was “waiting on an update on when those payments can start to flow”.
The financial supports will include immediate relief payments of $611 per adult and $309 per child, capped at $1,537 per family; as well as a re-establishment payment of $8,843 to replace essential household items.
Food supply lines open up
Across the Top End over the weekend, shoppers were met with empty shelves at supermarkets.
The chief minister said rail lines had opened Sunday night, with two trains of food able to get to Darwin.
Acting Commander Gill said “about three tonnes” of the goods carried on the two trains had been redirected back towards Katherine to support locals.
Supermarket shelves at Darwin grocery stores were stripped bare as floods further south triggered supply chain issues. (ABC News)
Since then, Katherine’s local Woolworths — the only supermarket for hundreds of kilometres — announced it would re-open from 2pm to 7pm.
The incident controller conceded that earlier on Monday, there had been complaints from Katherine residents, including those staying at emergency shelters, of “water and food shortages”.
He said while waiting for other goods to arrive, he had “tasked the police plane to fly down with as many non-perishable goods and water” as possible.
Many roads in and around Katherine have been flooded, affecting supply lines. (ABC News: James Elton)
In addition to rail routes opening up, the chief minister said the southern end of the Stuart Highway was “open right now for food”, after both sides had been blocked off over the weekend.
“So Katherine will be receiving food today.
“We’ve got very strict controls over movements on that southern end of the Stuart Highway, not just anyone or any truck can come through, but food and essential services can.”
Floodwaters reached Katherine’s main street, which runs next to the Stuart Highway. (ABC News: James Elton)
Mrs Finocchiaro added that the section of the Stuart Highway north of Katherine would also open Monday morning.
In the interim, Katherine Mayor Joanna Holden told ABC Radio Darwin a number of the town’s smaller grocery stores were open and stocked.
“The Eastside [Mini Mart] shop was open yesterday and I’m assuming will be open again today. Kerry at Katherine Fruit and Veg, she has been open all weekend, she has supplies there, she will be open again today,” she said.
Rural Darwin roads impacted by wet weather
Further north, sustained rainfall has impacted roads in the Greater Darwin area on Monday afternoon.
In a statement, the NT government said there was “significant water over the road across the Stuart Highway and the Greater Darwin road network”.
“With more rain expected, essential travel only is recommended due to potentially hazardous conditions,” a spokesperson said.
The latest road closure information can be found here.
Heavy rainfall is impacting the road network across Greater Darwin, including in rural areas. (Facebook: Road Report NT)
School bus travel in Darwin’s rural area has also been impacted.
On Monday afternoon, the education department said in a statement that if a rural school bus could not travel, students would be taken another school in the area and parents would be notified to collect their children from there.
Speaking on ABC Darwin Radio in the afternoon, Tim Morgan from the NT’s Department of Education and Training said almost 200 rural students were sheltering across Taminmin College and Berry Springs Primary School, after rapid river rises had impacted their bus routes home.
Finn Road in Berry Springs was inundated by floodwaters this afternoon. (Supplied: Kris Civitarese)
He said their families had been contacted and students were safe.
“The river is up between the school and the town of Berry Springs, and unfortunately the tide is working against us a little bit because it’s coming in and holding that water up,” he said.
Parents and caregivers are being asked to keep their phones close to ensure school officials can get in touch with updates.