Authorities say impassable roads are hampering their response to a "significant flooding" situation in the Northern Territory township of Timber Creek, near the West Australian border, which is being described as a one-in-50-year event.
Emergency services received 12 calls for help overnight from outstations near the community, south-west of Darwin, with reports of 30 centimetres of water flowing through some buildings in town.
An emergency response is being impeded by heavy rainfall and flooded roads, as a result of former Tropical Cyclone Ellie tracking inland after making landfall late on Thursday night as a category one system.
Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, Acting NT Police Commissioner Murray Smalpage said residents in the town had "never seen anything like this".
Police were forced to undertake a number of rescues, among those, a woman in her 70s, who was washed off a bridge by floodwaters and had to be rescued.
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said the woman was now recovering in the Katherine Hospital and that it's believed all other residents of Timber Creek had been accounted for.
"A welfare response is under way in the town. We're assessing food and shelter needs," she said.
"I'm advised that the community has power but water has been impacted."
She said the remnants of ex-Tropical Cyclone Ellie were likely to continue moving to the south-east, through the Barkly Region.
A severe weather warning issued on Saturday by the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) warned of dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding within 200 kilometres of the tropical low, with falls of between 160mm to 250mm possible.
The BOM said 241.5 mm of rain had fallen at Timber Creek, on the Victoria Highway, in the 24 hours to 9am on Saturday.
Over a broader area, the BOM said, falls of up to 350mm were expected over the next 24 hours.
The areas affected are the Gregory and parts of Daly, Carpentaria, Barkly and Tanami districts.
Plea to stay off roads
Both Ms Fyles and Acting Commissioner Smalpage urged motorists to stay off the road during the wild weather.
Victoria Daly mayor Brian Peddwell said he had never experienced a similar flooding situation.
"Water just went through the whole town," he said.
He said two cars were washed away in the deluge, urging motorists to "be careful and mindful" of warnings not to cross flooded roadways.
Overnight, emergency services received calls for help from residents from the Gilwi and Myatt outstations, off the Victoria Highway.
Incident Controller Kylie Anderson said the intense rainfall and flooding in the area was a one-in-50-year event.
"We got 12 calls for assistance in the space of five hours … from residents of outstations around Timber Creek who were cut off by floodwaters," she said.
"Watch Creek broke its banks which inundated Timber Creek township, with reports up 300 millimetres of water through some buildings."
"So it wreaked havoc in that area, it was fairly busy yesterday."
Vision posted on social media shows ankle-deep, fast-flowing water streaming along the main thoroughfare of the community.
"Timber Creek Police and a local ranger responded, assisting a number of residents to traverse flooded roadways and get to safe shelter at Timber Creek," NT Police said in a statement last night.
A senior traditional owner from the community of Peppimenarti says the tropical cyclone has worsened chronic over-crowding in the community.
The Bureau of Meteorology is warning flooding remains likely in parts of the Northern Territory for the next few days.
A flood watch remains in place for Bonaparte coastal rivers, north-west coastal rivers and inland catchments.
"Areas of rainfall with isolated heavy thunderstorms are expected across central parts of the territory over coming days," it said.
"Rainfall may cause significant water level rises in rivers and creeks with prolonged overland flooding."
