Residents affected by flooding in the Northern Territory have been warned not to swim in crocodile-infested waters, as low tropical temperatures continue to prompt major flood warnings and heavy rainfall in the Top End and Queensland.
Hundreds of people were evacuated over the weekend, and the entire town of Nauiyu/Daly River in the NT was evacuated as of Sunday afternoon, NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said.
The level of the Katherine River peaked at 19.2 meters at 10.45pm on Saturday, the highest level since the 1998 floods which claimed three lives. The Daly River was still rising on Sunday and was expected to exceed 1957 levels (15.3 metres) over the next week.
NT Acting Incident Control Commander Shaun Gill urged residents not to venture into flood waters after reports of people swimming.
“There are crocodiles everywhere… please don’t get in the water,” he said at a news conference Sunday morning. “Don’t swim in the water for two reasons. It’s because it’s a fast-flowing river and it’s also when the crocodiles are most active.”
Gill said there were about 1,000 people in shelters after “a very difficult day” of evacuations on Saturday from Nganmarriyanga (previously known as Palumpa), Nauiyu (the Daly River community), Katherine and Jilkminggan. Six planes and 18 helicopters were used in the rescues.
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Finocchiaro said 80 people who were unable to leave Saturday due to weather conditions were evacuated that morning after being taken by boat to higher ground overnight.
“They took shelter overnight and then we were able to get them out by helicopter this morning,” he said. The federal and territory governments were activating relief payments for the Katherine local government area, capped at $1,537 per household, along with a reset relief fund available to eligible households of up to $8,847.
Jude Scott, from the Bureau of Meteorology, said the Daly River could remain at major flood stage “for at least this week and next”.
“The River Daly is a huge river containing huge volumes of water so it will continue to rise slowly over the next week.”
The Katherine River was still at major flood stage Sunday afternoon. Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Angus Hines said attention was shifting to Queensland, where a severe weather warning for heavy rain was in force for the state’s northwest on Sunday.
A tropical low was expected to gradually move southeastward during Sunday and continue into Monday. Isolated six-hour rainfall totals of up to 100mm were expected, with totals of up to 170mm on the Sunshine Coast.
Hines said the region was experiencing the cumulative impacts of a “long and fairly extended rainy season.”
“Some flood warnings have already been issued proactively, ahead of the heaviest rain, and a lot of minor to moderate flooding is expected across the southeastern part of the state,” Hines said.
“If the rains increase a little more, we certainly cannot also rule out the risk of major flooding.”
A flood watch warning has been issued for most of Queensland, with a risk of major flooding to the Georgina, Lower Flinders and Thomson rivers.
Evacuations and power outages
Finocchiaro said government offices, courts and several schools would not be open on Monday, and some schools would be used as shelters. He said two people who remained in Katherine Hospital on Saturday had been evacuated to Darwin. Twenty-one patients were in a temporary emergency department set up in the city’s industrial area, while 20 pregnant women had been airlifted to other hospitals as a precaution.
The Chief Minister said the Stuart Highway remained closed due to flooding on both sides of the city, leaving it isolated and dangerous for travel, but said trains would now move from Alice Springs to Darwin, which she said was “good news for food”.
Hines said water levels in Katherine had started to drop as rainfall eased slightly, but said there was a chance further scattered rainfall could “pump more water into the river”.
“We wouldn’t rule out some sort of new rise in the water level in the next few days, but at the moment that water level is starting to go down.”
When asked about reports that residents had been unable to contact emergency services through triple zero, Gill said he had no details of specific incidents, but said the advice was still to call the number, saying there had been around 120 emergency calls. He said there were “telecommunication issues” along with power outages affecting at least 90 homes.
A resident posted in a Katherine community Facebook group that she had seen a crocodile floating down the street, while another video posted on social media showed a crocodile galloping down a city street on Saturday morning.
The NT Government sent a #BeCrocwise message to residents amid this week’s flooding, warning people to stay away from the water’s edge, not to enter floodwaters and to keep children and pets away.
“With current flooding and rising river levels on the Great Rivers, crocodiles may move into new and unexpected areas, including streams, drains, flooded roads and other waterways.”
“Suppose any waterway can contain a crocodile.”
