The main road linking Western Australia to the Northern Territory has reopened several days after the route was cut due to flooding.
It has been almost a week since floodwaters surged above a crucial bridge on Victoria Highway in the territory, completely isolating East Kimberley from the rest of the country.
The region was already isolated to the west after record flooding in January severed the Great Northern Highway at Fitzroy Crossing.
Supermarket shelves have been empty for days and military assistance has seen non-perishable and fresh goods ferried and flown into the region.
However, authorities in the territory have today given the green light for road traffic to resume along Victoria Highway.
Vital transport link
The reopening means grocery trucks stranded in the NT can travel across the border for the first time since Saturday.
NT Road Transport Association chief executive Louise Bilato said many trucks were already en route to the East Kimberley with food and fuel supplies, after several days of waiting.
Ms Bilato said the freight could arrive within a matter of hours.
"It may mean that some of the perishable freight … may have a shorter shelf life … it depends on what was on some of those trucks," she said.
"We're very confident the transport operators that have contracts with the retailers will do their best to get as much product onto the shelves as quickly as possible."
Pinjarra man John Tuckey had brought some food in his carry-on when arrived in Kununurra to visit his son, who owns a business in the town.
However, Mr Tuckey said he was shocked at the lack of available food despite the arrival of a food drop coordinated by the Australian Defence Force late Wednesday night.
"When they say there's no food, there is actually no food. There's nothing on the shelves at all in the way of fresh fruit and vegies," he said.
"To hear that the plane arrived yesterday with all dry goods and no fresh fruit and vegies is just ridiculous."
