Brothers swept away in Red Centre flood

TWO brothers who jumped into a flooded Northern Territory river were missing last night as floodwaters swept through central Australia.

TWO brothers who jumped into a flooded Northern Territory river were missing last night as floodwaters swept through central Australia, stranding motorists and giving Alice Springs residents the rare treat of seeing the Todd River flow.

Territory police yesterday feared for the wellbeing of the brothers, aged 24 and 32, after a relative saw them being swept down the Sandover River at Atheleye Station, about 220km northeast of Alice Springs, on Saturday.

Police said one of the men was swimming in the flowing river at about 10am on Saturday when he got into trouble. The man's brother jumped in to help but both men were swept away.

Superintendent Bruce Porter said search and rescue personnel were searching the river and its banks on foot and from helicopters. "It is a very difficult and demanding task due to the fact there is considerable floodwaters and poor terrain conditions hampering our search efforts," he said.

"However, we are doing everything that we possibly can to locate these persons."

In Alice Springs, police warned against swimming in flooded waterways after people were rescued from the Todd River.

Alice Springs Watch Commander Paula Dooley-McDonnell said people had been using tyre tubes and other floats to ride the river. "I know it's a novelty to have the Todd flowing, but I need to reiterate to the public just how dangerous this sort of behaviour is," she said.

" Not only does the water flow faster than it appears, there is often debris just under the surface that could trap you."

A family who went missing after setting out to drive from Arlparra Store, about 200km north of Alice Springs, to Barrow Creek on Wednesday, was found safe and well bogged on a dirt track.

The five were reported missing on Friday after setting out in their Mazda hatchback.

Superintendent Porter said the family, a couple and their three children -- two boys aged 10 and three months and a girl aged six -- were found by a helicopter yesterday afternoon 19km east of Neutral Junction. They were picked up and flown to the community of Ali Curung to be with relatives. Emergency services said the family became bogged by the floods but stayed with their car, a move Superintendent Porter said made their rescue much easier.

Alice Springs deputy mayor John Rawnsley said he thought the last time the Todd flooded was late in 2008. "Because the river doesn't come up very often it's a time when the whole town comes down to see."

Authorities activated the town's flood plan on Saturday, door-knocking residents along the river to be ready in case they had to evacuate, but cancelled the threat warning several hours later as the rain eased.

Shelagh O'Brien, who owns with her husband Colin the Glen Helen Resort, 130km west of Alice Springs, said the Finke River, which surrounds the resort, peaked on Saturday morning at 4m above the road. She said the resort had recorded 200mm of rain in three days, which was more than they had for all of last year.

Police say flooding across the region is subsiding.