Borroloola: Evacuees arrive in Darwin, await flood update

A flood peak of 18 metres remains a possibility and threatens to impact the region further, as evacuees wait nervously from afar.

Borroloola residents on the airstrip before evacuating from their flood-hit town.

A Darwin pavilion will be housing up to 350 evacuees delivered from the once-in-a-lifetime flood that struck Borroloola this week.

The evacuees have been placed at Foskey Pavilion, with Marrara Stadium also on standby should more evacuees arrive in the days ahead.

On Thursday, NT Police Assistant Commissioner Matt Hollamby confirmed that an air evacuation on Wednesday evening delivered a total of 102 people from Borroloola to Darwin, with a further 250 evacuees set to arrive on Thursday afternoon.

Mr Hollamby said not everyone would be evacuated, however four tonnes of food and water had been delivered for residents who would remain behind.

“Not everyone wants to be evacuated from Borroloola and our preference is that the medically vulnerable people go first,” he said.

“We’re working through that now in conjunction with the local controller and also the medical team at Borroloola to prioritise those people.”

Borroloola evacuees were forced to cross Rocky Creek by boat to get to the airstrip.

Evacuees were forced to travel by boat across Rocky Creek to make the airstrip, which delayed extraction, according to Mr Hollamby.

“The difficulty was getting people from the township of Borroloola to the airport because all of these people had to be taken across the river by boat,” he said.

“It was as seamless as it could be in terms of we were moving people as safely and as quickly as we could to get onto the aircraft.”

Mr Hollamby asked that evacuees be respected as they await news on their properties and loved ones back home.

“There is a degree of uncertainty and apprehension about their residences in Borroloola, so we ask that you respect their dignity while they’re being evacuated to Darwin.”

Evacuees preparing to board an ADF aircraft.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s Shenagh Gamble said the region’s flood prediction of 16.5 metres could increase.

“With the rain that we’ve seen in the last 24 hours within (the Borroloola) catchment and the forecast rain in that McArthur River catchment, we still can’t rule out a much higher peak of 18 metres.”

Ms Gamble said severe weather warnings remained current from Tennant Creek “all the way” to the Western Australian border.

“Damaging winds have been removed from that severe weather warning area but we do expect to still see heavy rainfall totals of up to 150 millimetres of rain with that (area),” she said.

“We’ve also updated our Flood Watch to include the western desert areas, so basically right now the Flood Watch covers all of central and western parts of the Northern Territory.”

Mr Hollamby said the communities of Pigeon Hole, Kalkarindji, Daguragu, and Lajamanu would be monitored closely in the days ahead.

Picture: Supplied.

Picture: Phillip Dick.

Picture: Phillip Dick.

Authorities brief evacuees before departure. Picture: Supplied.

An ADF aircraft loads up. Picture: Supplied.

Evacuees strap in before takeoff. Picture: Supplied.