Australia Weather News

Major flooding has eased along the Katherine River with the water level now falling after it peaked just below the heightrecorded when the Top End town was inundated earlier this month.

It marks a welcome easing of the severe weather that triggered Katherine's worst flooding in almost three decades, caused widespread electricity outages and impacted the supply of water.

The prolonged rain also displaced many Territorians for weeks, battered several remote communities and put pressure on the NT's health system.

The river is now sitting a few centimetres below the 17.5-metre major flood level after peaking just above it on Thursday morning, 1.6m below the level that triggered this month's inundation.

Trent de With was one of many Katherine locals helping support flood-affected homes and businesses and said the near miss in the wake of ex-Tropical Cyclone Narelle was "fantastic".

"We've had so much damage and so much loss from that amount of water, but we dodged a massive bullet," he said.

"I don't think it can be overstated how bad the situation could've gotten if that ex-tropical cyclone had been maybe 100 to 150 kilometres further south."

Mr de With said recent experience had confirmed that rain took about three days to flow downstream into Katherine, a lesson he hoped residents would remember in future weather emergencies.

"They can be better educated and know that, when something like this happens again, they can look at radar maps and see where rain is falling and have a reasonable understanding for themselves about what to expect."

He said locals were "still just hoping that we're done here" amid promising forecasts from the weather bureau.

Nauiyu homes still under water

According to the BOM's latest weather warnings, the peak at Katherine will flow downstream and feed into the major flood level holding steady at Nauiyu / Daly River where homes remain under water.

"Prolonged major flooding is continuing along the Daly River at Daly River Police Station, where the river levels are expected to remain above the major flood level for the remainder of March," the bureau said on Thursday morning.

Floods have triggered emergency evacuations at Daly River twice already this year with residents having spent more than a month sheltering further north.

More showers and thunderstorms are forecast for the catchment in the coming few days, which could further delay repatriation for residents of the remote community as well as evacuees from Palumpa.

On Thursday morning, Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy said the federal and NT governments were "working very closely" together to ensure all evacuees were cared for until it was safe for them to return home.

Good news for some displaced communities

In a statement on Wednesday afternoon, the NT government said some residents of displaced communities were "beginning to return home" this week, including those from Murray Downs and almost 200 Numbulwar flood evacuees who travelled back by air.

Numbulwar was evacuated last week after the BOM predicted ex-Tropical Cyclone Narelle would deliver "damaging winds, storm tide and heavy rainfall", making the remote community eligible for Immediate Relief Payments.

The NT government statement said flood-affected Ali Curung residents had received their first instalment of the funding, "with the remaining to be provided once they return home".

Closer to Katherine and to the east, residents in Beswick/Wugularr are hopeful further rains won't exacerbate existing flooding, which has now started to ease — they didn't have to evacuate this month, but many are sheltering on higher ground.

"A peak around the minor flood level was recorded along the Waterhouse River at Beswick Bridge Wednesday afternoon, following the earlier moderate flood peak recorded during the early hours of Tuesday," the BOM said on Thursday morning.

"River levels are expected to continue easing over the next few days, with no further flooding expected along the Waterhouse River."

On Wednesday afternoon, the weather bureau confirmed floods were no longer threatening Adelaide River — the small town, south of Darwin, that copped most of the ex-cyclone's deluge as the low pressure system moved over the NT last weekend.

NT Health updates on water, hospitals

As a result of the decreasing threat, boil water alerts issued for Batchelor, Numbulwar, Jilkminggan and Adelaide River have been lifted.

"The chief health officer has advised that water in these communities is safe to drink and boiling is no longer required," NT Health said in a statement.

To the north, both Royal Darwin Hospital and Palmerston Regional Hospital escaped the NT's latest cyclone unscathed and a weather-related code yellow for the hospitals was lifted on Thursday.

"The code yellow was issued in response to increased patient presentations and bed flow pressures from recent severe weather events across multiple regions," the statement read.

"Due to a number of measures being implemented, demand pressures have eased and patient flow at both hospitals has improved."

Meanwhile in Katherine, a field hospital has been opened to care for patients while the town's permanent facility remains closed.