Australia Weather News

A day trip to the Tjoritja/West MacDonnell National Park became a 24-hour ordeal for almost 30 people when the Hugh River unexpectedly cut off Namatjira Drive, 50 kilometres from Alice Springs.

A pregnant woman, international tourists and residents were stranded on Saturday without enough food or water despite numerous calls to emergency services.

Alice Springs residents Charz and Rory Kearns have had many years of experience visiting remote locations in the region.

They were on a day trip to the West MacDonnell National Park, hoping to cool off at the popular and permanent waterhole, Ellery Creek Big Hole, which is 80km from Alice Springs.

Mr Kearns said they were carrying 11 litres of water and had checked the weather report before leaving.

"We had messaged friends before we left to say that we were heading out."

Mr Kearns said there was no hint of any water between Alice Springs and the popular swimming hole.

He said the road condition sign at the edge of Alice Springs did not alert them to any road closures.

It was only when they arrived at Ellery Creek about 1pm that they saw the road was impassable due to floodwater.

"We turned around after a few photos and headed back and found ourselves at Hugh River 20 minutes later with [the river] probably over a metre deep," Mr Kearns said.

"Over the next few hours, another dozen or so vehicles pulled in."

It was later in the afternoon when Mr Kearns realised that they were going to be stuck there for the night.

Triple Zero calls

Mr Kearns said they decided to return to Ellery Creek.

"There's an emergency Triple Zero call phone, which is a hardwired phone at Ellery Creek for emergency purposes."

He said they informed the operator that the group needed emergency assistance, and the operator acknowledged the situation.

Charz Kearns said she emphasised that the group did not have enough supplies for more than another 12 hours.

"I told the [operator] that we had only enough water for everyone for the night," she said.

"We would have no water in the morning, and there was no food."

Ms Kearns said she was angry about the lack of response from emergency services.

"The [police] didn't show up until over 24 hours later, after a whole bunch of community members had come to our rescue," she said.

"The police showed up when we had a plan about how to get everyone out of there safely and [they] stood and watched."

Ms Kearns said the lack of information to the group added to what was already a stressful situation.

"I want to know why I want to know exactly what emergency services did when they got the very first phone call," she said.

"Why did [emergency services] think it was okay to leave people out there and not even to let us know that we were going to be okay?"

Ms Kearns said all the roads were open at the time of their initial departure.

"It wasn't flooded when we headed out," she said.

"So whoever's responsible for closing those roads obviously didn't do it in time, and I would say that they are probably at fault."

Terrifying river crossing

Maggie Aylmore and her partner, Daniel Thomas, were confident it was safe to head out for a day trip because there were no signs of flooding.

"The roads were signed open, and we didn't leave until mid-morning, so there'd been time for rangers to go out and adjust the road signs if they were expecting floods," she said.

"There was no clearly communicated or known risk to going out that day to Ellery."

It was about 4:30pm, after several hours of waiting with limited supplies, when they felt they had no other choice but to enter the floodwaters.

"It was a measured decision to cross the river.

"There wasn't any other option except for staying that night or crossing into town to alert emergency services."

Ms Aylmore said she would never wade through waist-high floodwater again.

"We crossed the river because we are strong and fit swimmers, but it was definitely unsafe and terrifying for us both," she said.

"We saw many logs passing through, which could have very easily injured us. The only comfort was that we're both strong swimmers."

Lack of urgency

Ms Aylmore said she phoned the police as soon as she had phone reception and called multiple times the following day, and also visited the station. 

"We had a police officer say to us, 'Why do you care so much? Why does this concern you?'

"We replied, 'There's a pregnant woman out there, there's children, there's no food, it's hot, people are stranded.'"

Ms Aylmore said she was disappointed by the response.

"I think we had a lot of trust and faith that these services, that are designed to respond to emergencies, would do that."

Northern Territory Police Force said in a statement that it was aware of people stranded in a flash flooding situation, but did not receive reports of any of the stranded persons requiring medical assistance, and it was determined there was no imminent risk to life.

"Police monitored the conditions and the area became accessible around 6:30pm on Sunday, 8 February, with all stranded persons subsequently leaving the area," the statement read.

"If you are driving and come across a flooded road, do not attempt to drive through or enter the water. It not only puts your life at risk, but also the lives of responding emergency services personnel. Remember, if it's flooded, forget it."

Delay in road closures

The department of logistics and infrastructure spokesperson said there was limited infrastructure in the region to predict river and creek flows.

"With no flood monitoring gauges in Central Australia, river and creek flows can be unpredictable, and updates can only be made once conditions are confirmed in person, or through reliable sources," the spokesperson said.

"When the Inspectors reached Ellery Creek at approximately 3.45pm on 7 February, they observed the flooding and the road condition was phoned in from the site and the Road Report website updated."