‘There are crocs absolutely everywhere,’ NT police say, warning people not to go in flooded rivers
Penry Buckley
Gill has called on people not to venture into floodwaters, following reports of people swimming in rivers. Asked if there is increased crocodile activity in flood-affected areas, he said:
There are crocs absolutely everywhere … Please don’t go in the water. The message is quite clear. Don’t swim in the water for two reasons. It’s because it’s a fast flowing river, and also this is when crocs are most active.
Asked about reports that residents in Katherine were unable to contact emergency services, Gill said he does not have details of specific incidents, but said the advice remains to call triple zero. Earlier he said there had been “telecommunications issues” alongside power outages.
Speaking alongside Gill, the Bureau of Meteorology’s Jude Scott said the Daly River could stay at major flood level for some time:
The Daly River is a huge river holding enormous volumes of water, so it will continue to slowly rise during the next week. And at this stage, we’re expecting it to stay in excess of major flood level for at least this week and into next week.
Key events
Penny Wong signals possible defensive military support for Gulf nations
Here’s our full report on foreign minister Penny Wong’s comments from this morning about Australia’s possible offer of military support to Gulf nations facing strikes from Iran:
‘There are crocs absolutely everywhere,’ NT police say, warning people not to go in flooded rivers
Penry Buckley
Gill has called on people not to venture into floodwaters, following reports of people swimming in rivers. Asked if there is increased crocodile activity in flood-affected areas, he said:
There are crocs absolutely everywhere … Please don’t go in the water. The message is quite clear. Don’t swim in the water for two reasons. It’s because it’s a fast flowing river, and also this is when crocs are most active.
Asked about reports that residents in Katherine were unable to contact emergency services, Gill said he does not have details of specific incidents, but said the advice remains to call triple zero. Earlier he said there had been “telecommunications issues” alongside power outages.
Speaking alongside Gill, the Bureau of Meteorology’s Jude Scott said the Daly River could stay at major flood level for some time:
The Daly River is a huge river holding enormous volumes of water, so it will continue to slowly rise during the next week. And at this stage, we’re expecting it to stay in excess of major flood level for at least this week and into next week.
Eighty people in NT still to be evacuated from floods after ‘very difficult day’
Penry Buckley
Northern Territory police incident control acting commander, Shaun Gill, says 80 people are still to be evacuated as the Daly River continues to rise today.
Speaking to reporters earlier about the flooding yesterday, which saw hundreds evacuated by emergency services from Nganmarriyanga (formerly known as Palumpa), Nauiyu (the Daly River community), Katherine and Jilkminggan, Gill said it had been an “incredibly difficult day”, saying his priority was now the remaining people in Nauiyu/Daly River.
We currently have 80 people who were unable to be evacuated yesterday due to weather conditions. So in order to achieve that, they actually had to move people by boat up until midnight last night up to higher ground. So as you can understand, it’s quite tough, and today we have helicopters flying out there with the hope of getting all 80 of them out by today.
Gill says there are about 1,000 people in shelters across Darwin, Katherine and Mataranka following evacuations that used six aircraft 18 helicopters, including winch rescues.
He says at least 90 homes are without power, and electricity has been turned off in the main street of Katherine, which has flooded after experiencing the highest river levels since 1998.
A quick update to the previous post: we’ve just been advised by the government that flight EK420 from Dubai to Perth, due to land this afternoon Perth time, has 93 Australians onboard.
Dubai to Perth flights update
Further to our earlier posts about flights inbound to Australia out of the UAE, Emirates has advised there is an additional flight en route from Dubai, due to land in Perth today today at 17:15hrs AWST.
Information about that flight, EK420, can be found on the Emirates website. We do not know at this stage how many Australians are onboard.
Penry Buckley
Daly and Katherine rivers flooding update
In the Northern Territory, where yesterday we reported that hundreds of people were being airlifted from remote communities amid major flooding, there are still major warnings in place for the Daly and Katherine rivers.
River heights are expected to exceed 1957 levels – or 15.3 metres – on the Daly River this evening. On Katherine River, river levels peaked at 19.2 metres yesterday evening, the highest since floods in 1998 which claimed three lives.
Hines says water levels have started to drop on the Katherine, but there is a chance more isolated rainfall could “pump more water into the river”:
We wouldn’t rule out a sort of renewed rise in that water level the next couple of days, but for the time being that water level is starting to drop.
NT emergency services are now providing an update on evacuations, which we will bring you news from shortly.
Penry Buckley
Weather warnings for Queensland and NT amid flooding and heavy rain
A severe weather warning and several major flood warnings are in place as tropical lows continue to bring heavy rain to Queensland and the Northern Territory today.
In Queensland, a severe weather warning is in place for the north-west, with a tropical low gradually expected to move to the south-east during the day, continuing into tomorrow. Isolated six-hourly rainfall totals of up to 100mm are likely, as high as 170mm on the Sunshine Coast.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Angus Hines says the region is experiencing the cumulative impacts of a “long and quite widespread wet season”:
We’re seeing rain in that area at the moment, and that rain is forecast to get heavier in the coming hours, heading into tonight … right through until tomorrow.
A flood watch warning is in place for most of state, with major flooding a possibility on the Georgina, Lower Flinders and Thomson rivers.
Yesterday, there were multiple rescues in the Gladstone region after flash flooding, including 34 people from a bus which became stranded in floodwaters, as well as six other motorists. Queensland emergency have services have confirmed there have been no further rescues over night.
We’ll bring you updates shortly about the major flooding situation in the Northern Territory, where hundreds of people have been airlifted from the remote community of Daly River (Nauiyu), and the town of Katherine remains under threat.
Here’s our report on where things were at late yesterday afternoon, if you need to catch up:
Joe Hinchliffe
‘Symphonies in stone’: conservation v commerce in our national parks
When the Gardens of Stone in the Blue Mountains was declared a state conservation area in 2022, it should have been cause of great celebration for Keith Muir. Instead, the plans put forward by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) for the nature reserve make him weep.
“The geology is spectacular,” he says of the nature reserve:
The pagoda landforms are sculptured natural artworks, that is the only way to describe them. They are symphonies in stone.
Muir’s tears are not of joy but grief and rage – not just for this place he loves, close to his home in Katoomba, but for all wild places of Australia.
NPWS, as landowner, is proposing the construction of a multi-day walk passing through the Gardens of Stone, along with luxury glamping-style accommodation. It will be built in the heart of this protected area, which sits alongside a world heritage area, and leased to a private operator. Amid the wildflowers of the Gardens of Stone, between old growth banksia and unique sandstone formations – that resemble the temples of Angkor Wat – on uncleared bush, will sit 18 twin cabins.
But Muir argues that the proposed cabins are not, as they were labelled in public consultation which closed last Thursday, “bush camps”. Instead, he describes the development as a resort. And if you can develop a resort in the Gardens of Stone, he argues, you can develop a resort anywhere.
Read the full story here:
Adeshola Ore
Captured by IS, Amera began writing letters to her lost brother: ‘I wrote because I was scared, but also because I have hope’
When Islamic State militants arrived at their family’s home in northern Iraq, Amera and her brother were sitting under their grandmother’s fig tree.
The 11-year-old girl had been watching a ripening fig for days but needed her older brother Ali’s height to reach it. Now, with IS beginning an assault on their town’s Yazidi people, she thought this may be her only chance.
The IS members arrived in five cars outside her home in Solagh, a village in Sinjar. They barked orders. Females and males were to be separated. A hand was on her shoulder pulling her towards the other Yazidi women and children.
Amera has not seen Ali since that afternoon of 4 August 2014.
“He told me, ‘my heart always be with you,’” Amera, now 22, recalls.
Amera is one of more than 6,000 Yazidi women and children kidnapped and enslaved by IS. More than a decade after IS began their genocidal campaign against the Yazidis – killing and displacing thousands of the religious minority – she is fighting for the estimated more than 2,700 still missing.
This month, she published a book about her eight months in IS captivity.
Read the full story here:
