Flood risk for Darwin, Katherine areas

Australian Community Media

Monsoon and tropical low conditions continue to wreak havoc, with evacuations around the lower Daly River, and the Katherine River at Gorge Road. A generalised flood warning has been issued across the Victoria River in the Northern Territory.

Transcript

00:00 Miriam here with a severe weather update for the heavy rainfall and significant flooding that are

00:05 impacting parts of the Northern Territory. Let's jump in straight away with a look at our current

00:10 warnings. Now we've got a moderate flood warning in place for the lower Daly River catchment and a

00:15 minor flood warning for the Catherine River at Gorge Road, but we've also got this larger

00:20 generalised flood warning for the Victoria River catchment. We've seen significant river rises

00:25 throughout these areas that have in some places cut off roads and access routes. A number of

00:31 communities have been evacuated or will be evacuated over the coming days as rain continues

00:36 to fall. If you or anyone you know lives in these areas we urge you to keep on top of the advice

00:42 from local emergency services and keep up to date with the local forecasts and warnings as well.

00:47 We do still have a severe weather warning current for heavy rainfall in the vicinity

00:54 of the tropical low which is currently sitting close to Elliott. Now the heaviest falls are

00:58 likely to the west and south of the low and they may become locally intense with any

01:03 thunderstorms that do develop. That means we could see flash flooding developing very quickly

01:09 in these warning areas, potentially causing further hazards not just to roads and access routes but to

01:16 you and your property. Where will this low track next? That is the big question as the heaviest

01:22 falls really are tied to that system. Well through today it will remain rather slow moving. The

01:28 heaviest falls will still wrap around the west and southern parts of this low but it's not going to

01:32 move very far from the Elliott area. Rain has eased off somewhat across the top end with more

01:39 scattered showers and thunderstorms expected over the coming days but that risk of heavy rain

01:43 now eased off. As we go into the weekend that low is going to remain fairly slow moving but through

01:50 towards Saturday night we will see some particularly heavy rainfall starting to develop to the south of

01:56 Catherine around that western flank of the low and that particularly heavy rainfall across the

02:01 Victoria River catchment is likely to cause further significant river rises over the coming days.

02:07 As we head through Sunday this low will start to push towards the border bringing some of that

02:13 wind and rain into northern parts of the Kimberley. We could even see the system gradually tracking

02:18 towards the Fitzroy crossing with the potential for impacts there however there are still a number

02:23 of different possibilities about exactly where this low will track early next week. Taking a look

02:29 now at the rainfall totals over the coming days we are expecting fairly widespread falls of 50 to 150

02:36 millimetres with higher accumulations in the two to three hundred millimetre range to the west of

02:42 that low. We'll likely see some localised isolated higher falls as well anywhere thunderstorms

02:49 develop. We could also see some high falls about parts of the Cape York Peninsula as the monsoon

02:55 or activity continues there too. As a result we do still have flood watches in place for large

03:01 parts of the northern territory including parts of the Top End and northern interior and across

03:06 parts of northern Queensland as well. This is telling us that further river rises and flooding

03:11 impacts are anticipated over the coming days so it is essential to keep on top of the latest

03:17 forecasts and warnings via the Bureau's website and the BOM Weather app. Stay safe and we'll catch

03:22 you next time.

Category

Transcript

Recommended