Flood warnings are continuing across the top end of the Northern Territory with a tropical low within the monsoon trough bringing heavy rains. An emergency situation has led to an estimated 100 residents being evacuated from the remote communities of Pigeon Hole and Daguragu to Katherine and Darwin.
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TVTranscript
00:00 Well, the Catherine River here in Catherine Town is sitting at about 11 metres now, which
00:07 sounds like a lot, but isn't really enough to trouble locals here, and authorities say
00:13 they don't expect any significant risk of major flooding in Catherine at this stage.
00:18 But further up the river at Catherine Gorge, Nitmalook Gorge, it's a slightly different
00:23 story. There have been roads cut there with creeks flooded and road access is now cut
00:29 off. Not good news for a tour company that was making the most of the water being at
00:35 exactly the right height to run powerboat tours. They were running yesterday, but they've
00:40 had to stop now because people just can't get there. So a mixed picture for people on
00:45 the Catherine River.
00:47 The Victoria River, which has been a significant concern up till now, continues to be the river
00:53 that's really worrying authorities. Two Indigenous communities, Pigeon Hole and Dhargurugu, have
00:59 both had evacuations. In Pigeon Hole, there are likely to be questions asked in the wake
01:05 of all this, because Pigeon Hole did flood last year, and there were questions even then
01:10 about why public housing was rebuilt on an area that's known to flood. Well, that's happened
01:18 again, so there may well be questions for planning authorities about how we go forward
01:23 in towns like Pigeon Hole.
01:26 There's also been significant damage to a section of rail track between Tennant Creek
01:32 and Catherine. Authorities have confirmed that part of that track has been damaged,
01:37 although they say that there won't be any impact on freight to Darwin, which has been
01:42 re-routed by road. And in the meantime, authorities are also keeping a close eye on the Daly River.
01:52 They say there's not been major flooding there at this stage, but they are closely monitoring
01:57 that situation. The Daly River Police Station is subject to a flood warning, and we'll just
02:05 have to wait and see whether that reaches levels that cause serious problems or evacuations
02:10 for the Daly River region.
02:12 We've already seen back in the Victoria River region, a helicopter rescue did have to take
02:18 place with some people who were on top of a truck that got stranded in floodwaters.
02:23 So a perilous situation in some areas, while in other areas the river is receding.
02:29 [BLANK_AUDIO]