Australia Weather News

Tropical Cyclone Narelle has been downgraded to a tropical low after crossing the east coast of the Northern Territory overnight, tracking across Katherine towards Western Australia.

The cyclone carved a path of destruction across Far North Queensland on Friday, approaching the coast as a category five.

Moving across the Gulf of Carpentaria, it crossed the NT coast early on Sunday as a category three before being downgraded to a tropical low.

NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said people still needed to stay alert.

"This is our seventh high-risk weather event and so just a reminder to everyone: the ground is saturated, our rivers are already full, and any additional rainfall — which could be in the couple of hundred millilitres — is going to have a significant impact and could have rapid consequences, so people do need to stay alert."

Major flood warnings in place across the Top End

As a tropical low, the system is expected to bring significant rainfall to already saturated catchments.

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a major flood warning for Nitmiluk Centre overnight tonight, and at Katherine Bridge from Monday afternoon.

The Katherine River at the bridge is likely to exceed the minor flood level of 16 metres on Sunday night, and could exceed the moderate flood level of 16.5m from Monday morning, reaching the major flood level at 17.5m on Monday afternoon.

Earlier this month the town was inundated when the river rose after a tropical low delivered a significant amount of rain to the catchment.

The Bureau of Meteorology has said this wet season could end up being northern Australia's 10th wettest season in history.

Downstream in Daly River, the community of Nauiyu remains under water as major flooding continues.

The community is experiencing its worst flood on record, with all residents evacuated to Darwin, and now accommodated in facilities in Batchelor, south of the city.

As Katherine prepares for the worst, national teams set up field hospital

Emergency supplies were trucked into Katherine overnight, evacuation shelters are ready to be stood up, and thousands of sandbags have been delivered to homes and businesses in preparation for the forecast weather.

The team from the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre (NCCTRC) has also been deployed to stand up a field hospital in East Katherine.

Crews from the Australian Medical Assistance Team — or AUSMAT — worked overnight on Saturday to set up the hospital ahead of the tropical low.

The AUSMAT team is part of the NCCTRC, which is deployed during major national and international disasters.

This is the first time in Australian history it has been deployed to this level domestically.

NT Health said on Sunday afternoon that Katherine Hospital was closed due to the flood risk and emergency care could now be accessed at the AUSMAT field hospital.

The hospital will be able to deliver emergency care, maternity, radiology, resuscitation and primary care services.

East Arnhem Land spared the worst from category three impact

NT Police Commissioner Martin Dole said there had been no reports of serious injuries.

"At this stage the Northern Territory appears to have avoided any significant damage with impacts largely limited to localised clean-up and recovery efforts," he said.

A Groote Eylandt community broadcaster said the island escaped serious damage after the cyclone made landfall on the NT coast overnight as a category three.

Groote Radio broadcaster Percy Bishop broadcast to the community for 24 hours when the internet went down, giving updates as the weather system rolled through.

Mr Bishop said the storm was bad, but not as bad as he feared.

"You heard the wind groaning, you could hear some of the trees bending, you could certainly hear the crescendo of sound come up," he said.

In a Facebook post, the Alyungula-based Arirrki Aboriginal Corporation said "based on radar and observations, Groote Eylandt has largely missed the core of the system".

"In simple terms — Groote got lucky."