Concerns about food security and the possibility of major transport routes being cut have been raised as former tropical cyclone Ellie moves back over the Northern Territory this weekend.
On Friday, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) predicted the tropical low would move from the Kimberley into the south-west region of the Northern Territory on Saturday, bringing a "wet weekend" to the region.
In an update on Saturday morning, BOM advised the system had moved over the Tanami District, and issued a severe weather warning for parts of the Tanami and Lasseter districts.
Emergency services have set up an emergency response centre in Alice Springs, as people in the affected areas are warned to brace for heavy rainfall and damaging winds.
Speaking on Friday, meteorologist Billy Lynch said the region could expect to see heavy rain, starting on Friday night and into the weekend.
"The weather system is weakening, so what we've seen over the Kimberley is not what we're expecting in the Northern Territory," Mr Lynch said.
"But this weather system is still going to bring a couple of days of heavy rain to south-western parts of the Northern Territory region, which doesn't always see tropical rainfall. So this type of rainfall is significant for that region."
BOM has issued a flood watch for the whole central and western inland parts of the territory, with isolated falls of more than 120mm expected on Saturday.
The locations that may be affected include Yuendumu, Walungurru, Papunya, Watarrka, Nyirripi and the south-west Tanami district near the NT's border with WA.
Mr Lynch said the "biggest impact" of the rainfall would be on roads.
"We will see rivers and streams rise. We will see flooding across land areas, but it's going to have a particular impact on the road conditions through there," he said, "and it could isolate some communities as well."
Emergency services are urging motorists to avoid using roads and reconsider travel in the area.
'This is an emergency'
The territory's Road Transport Association executive officer, Louise Bilato, said she was concerned the ongoing rain would put more pressure on the freight industry, which was already dealing with major road closures in the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
She said she was particularly concerned about the Stuart Highway, which had to be closed late last month due to flooding, causing a "slight" delay to freight.
"The Stuart Highway is holding up right at this moment, but ex-tropical Cyclone Ellie is moving back into the territory," she said.
"If we get much more flooding or rain between Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, we may also see the Stuart Highway close."
She said flooding at Fitzroy Crossing in Western Australia had meant trucks travelling between Perth and Darwin were having 3,500km added to their journey as they re-routed through South Australia and then up the Stuart Highway.
However, she welcomed changes announced by federal Northern Australia Minister Madeleine King on Thursday, temporarily allowing trucks of up to 53.5 metres in length to travel on West Australian and South Australian roads.
"The NT Road Transport Association lobbied very hard to insist this is the most sensible way to actually move freight at the moment," Ms Bilato said.
"There is an emergency. We need to get freight into the Kimberley region as quickly as possible and it has to still be cost-effective, otherwise you're putting a 30 per cent, at least, premium on top of very expensive freight already because of the distances they have to travel."
Concerns raised about remote community food security
Northern Territory's member for Namatjira, Bill Yan, said "ongoing rain events" posed a threat to food security in remote communities in Central Australia.
"After what took place last year, with the southern supply route into Central Australia being cut, there was a reasonable amount ot work done to ensure there was food safety and food security for the people of Central Australia," Mr Yan said.
"But ongoing rain events and unprecedented rain events certainly threaten those safe supply routes into some of those communities.
"Some communities don't have all-weather airstrips … we see communities using small vehicles to bring basic supplies in and it takes a long time to get some of those trucks in."
He said food security was an "ongoing issue that's not going away".
"I think communities in some of those remote regions need to probably think about food security longer term when we see prolonged rain events."
The member for Karama, Ngaree Ah Kit, said the territory government was "monitoring the situation" and was prepared to put in place any precautionary measures needed.
"Keep an eye on what's going on. I don't believe that water’s going to let up any time soon."
Darwin dam overflows as rain eases in Top End
Further north, Darwin's main dam has overflowed for just the second time in five years.
The Darwin River Dam — which supplies most of Darwin's drinking water — reached capacity on Thursday, with the water level getting to 45.867 metres and overflowing onto the spillway.
In the past few weeks, the dam's water level has soared due to heavy rain delivered by former tropical cyclone Ellie, as well as the onset of the monsoon.
NT's Power and Water Corporation acting executive general manager of water services, Eric Boyle, said news of the dam overflowing was welcome after some drier years.
""[It] did spill in March last year, [but] that was the first time for three years," he said.
"It's really good that we’ve got a full dam, just at the beginning of the new year, because we’ve, hopefully, still got a bit of rain to go.
"And, hopefully, we’ll get a little bit through the year and we’ll still be sitting at 100 per cent, which gives us that additional capacity for the rest of the dry season."
Mr Lynch said, unlike further south, the rain was expected to clear up in the Top End over the weekend.
"As ex-tropical cyclone Ellie weakens, the monsoon will also weaken across the Top End," he said.
"By next week, it's going to be a return to much-sunnier skies and humid conditions."
