Northern Territory Flooding Fills Streets W. Water, Crocodiles; Katherine River Flood Level Highest In Nearly 30 Years [View all]

Flood-affected residents in the Northern Territory have been warned not to swim in crocodile-filled waters, as tropical lows continue to bring major flood warnings and heavy rains to the Top End and Queensland. Hundreds of people were evacuated over the weekend, with the entire town of Nauiyu/Daly River in the NT evacuated as of Sunday afternoon, the NT chief minister, Lia Finocchiaro, said.

The Katherine River level peaked at 19.2 metres at 10.45 pm on Saturday, the highest since floods in 1998 which claimed three lives. The Daly River was still rising on Sunday and expected to exceed 1957 levels – 15.3 metres – during the next week. The NT incident control acting commander, Shaun Gill, urged residents not to venture into flood waters after reports of people swimming.“There are crocs absolutely everywhere … please don’t go in the water,” he told a press conference on Sunday morning. “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.

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The Katherine River was still at major flood level on Sunday afternoon. Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Angus Hines said the focus was moving to Queensland, where a severe weather warning for heavy rainfall was in place for the state’s north-west on Sunday. A tropical low was expected to gradually move to the south-east during Sunday, continuing into Monday. Isolated six-hourly rainfall totals of up to 100mm were expected, with totals as high as 170mm on the Sunshine Coast.

Hines said the region was experiencing the cumulative impacts of a “long and quite widespread wet season”. “There’s been some flood warnings already go out preemptively, ahead of that heaviest rain arriving, with a lot of minor to moderate flooding expected across the south-east of the state,” Hines said. “If that rain comes to a little heavier, we certainly can’t discount the risk of major flooding as well.”

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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/mar/08/there-are-crocs-absolutely-everywhere-nt-residents-warned-to-stay-out-of-floodwaters-as-hundreds-evacuated