Australia Weather News

Major flooding is now occurring in the Northern Territory town of Katherine, 300 kilometres south of Darwin, after the river rapidly rose this afternoon.

The Katherine River reached the major flood level of 17.5 metres this evening, and authorities are warning it could rise as high as 18.5m later today.

The last time the town reached the major flood level was in 2006, when Katherine residents were forced to leave their homes before the river peaked at 19 metres — the worst flooding it had experienced since 1998.

A flood emergency warning was declared for the town this morning and remains in place.

Katherine Hospital is being evacuated and will close, NT Health officials have confirmed, with 21 patients and up to 20 pregnant women being transferred to Darwin by air.

A temporary emergency department is being stood up at the St John Ambulance NT headquarters on Chardon Street.

"[The Katherine River] may go up to 18.5m or higher, however we are looking at inundation flood mapping and what that actually means for the Katherine region," NT police regional controller James O'Brien said.

"We're going to have emergency shelter areas available for the community if they need it.

"We do expect some low-lying houses within the Katherine region, especially along Gorge Road area, and along the Riverbank Drive, Victoria [Highway] to the west of the township centre to have some slight inundation."

Some Katherine residents had already been caught in floodwaters as the river level surged, he said.

A flood emergency warning is also in place for the nearby community of Beswick, with residents in both areas urged to move to high ground and shelter indoors until the all-clear is given.

Roads closed, SES standing by

Katherine's courthouse and visitor centre closed earlier today due to the flood risk, while shoppers were met with long queues and chaotic scenes at the local Woolworths this morning.

Emergency services are urging people not to panic but to calmly make plans to get themselves to higher ground and be self-sufficient for up to 72 hours.

Shelters are now open at Katherine High School and MacFarlane Primary School, both on Grevillea Street, and at Casuarina Street Primary School on the corner of Casuarina Street and Needham Terrace.

Manual Pamkal, a senior Dalabon man who runs a local tourism business, is not sure where he will sleep tonight if his hostel is flooded.

"You know what, I'm really scared, I don't know where I'm going to stay tonight," he said.

"Maybe take my truck and make a bush camp somewhere, on high ground."

Local roads have been submerged, including those leading to Nitmiluk National Park and RAAF Base Tindal.

Residents went to bed last night with the water level at the Katherine Bridge sitting at around 9 metres, but by 9am this morning, it had passed 15 metres and was still rising fast.

SES unit officer Karl Kratschmer said the town had "woken up to a bit of a situation on our hands" as a tropical low passing across the territory had brought heavy rain to the region.

Mr Kratschmer said the SES had three boats "ready to go", each over 5 metres in length, and volunteers were standing by.

"All our members in Katherine are ready to go at a moment's notice to help the public in their hour of need," he said.

Incident controller Terry Zhang said emergency services were well-prepared, with planning underway for potential evacuations.

"A key component of the [emergency operations centre] work is now on the planning and preparation for the possible scenario of an evacuation," he said.

Superintendent Zhang said a major flood warning was expected to be issued "very soon" for the Daly River to the north-west where flood levels have reached 12.16 metres.

Daly River residents only returned to their homes last weekend following a previous flood evacuation only a month ago.

Possible March record

BOM meteorologist Sally Cutter told ABC Radio Darwin this morning the Katherine region was potentially "looking at March records here" in terms of rainfall as the low pressure system moved over the area.

"There's a lot of uncertainty as to where this low is going to, so one of the models takes it west, the other one takes it east," she said.

"Probably the best case scenario is the eastward movement one because it means we're getting some drier air up the western side.

"[But] even if the low is not forcing this rainfall, we're still going to see the monsoon trough cross near the base of the Top End, enhancing this rainfall.

"The ground's very saturated so everything's going to run off, and all of this rain's got to work its way down the rivers."

Ms Cutter said the bureau's Katherine weather radar was out of action this morning but would hopefully be up and running later today.

"The parts are meant to be arriving this morning and we're hoping to get it back online this afternoon," she said.