Senior forecaster for the weather bureau Steph Bond said Alice Plaza, in the heart of Alice Springs, had seen 125 millimetres of rainfall since 9 a.m. on Friday.
Charles River Big Dipper recorded 114 mm of rain, while Mount LLoyd had received 100 mm, with Alice Springs Airport noting just 43 mm.
The Todd River is flowing through Alice Springs for the first time since April last year, and this time at an alarming rate. ‘Todd River is flooded at the moment,” said Bond. “And we’ve had a few other rivers peak overnight too.” She added that conditions on Sunday were expected to ease, with light rain being forecast for Monday.
Two locals were rescued from a tree after their vehicle was washed from a causeway in the worst floods Alice Springs had seen since 1988. The people involved did not sustain any injuries during the ordeal, which took place near Charles Creek Camp early on Saturday.
“This [rainfall] could mean considerable demand is placed on Police, Fire and Emergency Services and that’s why we ask people to use common sense,” said Northern Territory Emergency Service director Andrew Warton. “There are some jobs we attend [to] that are unavoidable but there are some incidents which need not occur, and last night’s was one of those.”
“[We] urge people to take extreme care around swollen waterways,” Warton added. The cause of the heavy rains is a tropical low lingering over the Kimberley area and an associated trough drawing tropical moisture over central Australia.
