Australia Weather News

Skies were turning grey at Laura Farmer's place on Saturday afternoon, and in her line of work that's worth a photo.

She took this one as Tropical Cyclone Trevor approached Ucharonidge Station, east of Elliott in the Northern Territory's Barkly region, where some graziers have hardly seen a drop of rain in nine months.

But this weather system could soon change that — it's forecast to bring 100 to 200mm to the region for each of the next few days.

That's more than 60 times the 3.2mm the Barkly town of Tennant Creek has seen in the past three months.

While the prediction has had emergency controllers warning of flash flooding, with the water set to run off the parched, baked ground rather than seep into it, Ms Farmer was not perturbed.

"Just got our last two trucks of cows off the black soil, rest of the cows on higher ground," she told ABC Rural.

"Bring on the rain!"

The Northern Territory Cattleman's Association chief executive Ashley Manicaros said heavy rainfall in the aftermath of severe Tropical Cyclone Trevor would be a welcome gift for cattle producers.

He said some pastoralists in the region had been in the process of seeking drought relief funding after extremely dry conditions.

On Saturday, some famers in the Barkly and Southern districts were told to move their cattle to safer ground ahead of heavy rainfall on Sunday.

Earlier this year, floods in Queensland saw hundreds of thousands of cattle perish.

But Mr Manicaros said a rapid fall in temperature when the rain arrived would be the biggest problem.

"It was a large part of the problem in Queensland when there was a drop, particularly with cattle loss," he said.

"However the condition of our livestock is much better, the preparation has been such that we've managed to put the cattle together, and so we don't think that impact will be anywhere near as bad."

'We're going through a lot of emotions'

People from at least 10 remote outstations were among the dozens of evacuees taking shelter in Tennant Creek on Saturday night.

While many welcomed the rain, there was also concern about just how much damage the storm would do.

Mary Noonan was evacuated from her community of Wogyala, 130 kilometres north-east of Tennant Creek, earlier this morning.

She said the entire community of 35 people had evacuated.

"It felt really scary because we could feel it was coming and the wind was picking up," Ms Noonan said.

"It felt really scary for us because we've never had that kind of experience before."

Ms Noonan said there were worries about what might happen to their home, the community garden and the school.

"It's a bit sad because we have to leave our pets behind, and our home — it's really special to us," she said.

"We're going through a lot of emotions."

But she said she and the family were feeling good about being at the evacuation centre, particularly because the children were busy playing basketball and football.

"We're feeling a lot safer and we know that we're being looked after, and that's a really good feeling to us now — feeling like we're in a safe environment," she said.

Ms Noonan said she had never been evacuated from the community in the past, but her father-in-law had in 1982.

And Ms Noonan said during big rains in 2011 the road turned into an inland sea and they had to use a dingy to get around.

"It's mostly unsealed roads so we don't know what the road conditions will be," she said.