Alice Springs locals have flocked to the banks of the Todd River to watch it flow for the first time in almost a year, after former tropical cyclone Ellie brought significant rainfall to the region over Christmas.
Gillen resident Aaron Campbell set up for a picnic with his kids along the riverbank on Tuesday to watch the rare spectacle.
"This is the closest we're getting to a beach until next year, so we’re making the most of it," he said.
"To have some water in the desert – that’s a lovely change."
Mr Campbell said the former tropical cyclone had brought a cool change to the normally scorching region.
“We've had a cloudy month, and the temperatures have been about 5-10 degrees lower than normal, which is a welcome change,” Mr Campbell said.
"We're normally looking at 40 degrees or more at this time of year."
Another local, Nigel Senior, said the weather event was a good excuse to get out into nature and cool off.
“It doesn’t really rain here much, but when it does, I can bring the kids here and get out of the house," he said.
“I wouldn’t mind seeing the Todd flow a bit more – some more rain would be nice for everyone."
Flooding traps holiday travellers
Further north, holiday-makers have had their travel plans derailed by the ex-tropical cyclone, with a number of families trapped due to flooding on the Stuart Highway.
Stephanie Henry and her daughter Anais Henry-Martin were trapped in Tennant Creek for two nights after leaving Darwin on Christmas Eve to drive to Victoria.
"We were sleeping in the car," she told ABC Radio.
"I heard there was about 200km of flooding, going over the [car] bonnet in some areas," she said.
The tropical low has moved south-east of Tennant Creek, according to the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM).
Member for Barkly Steve Edgington said residents in Tennant Creek had been "fairly fortunate" over the past three days, with only about 100 millimetres of rain falling over the town.
He said travellers on their way to Queensland had their plans disrupted due to the road closures.
"There was a number of people already on their way to Queensland, that only got as far as the Barkly homestead and had to be turned around and headed back to wherever they came from," he said.
Mr Edgington said a number of remote communities in the region had been cut off by the rain.
"When it comes to remote communities, most communities are sitting tight at the moment," he said.
"The larger communities have plenty of food in their store … they're well stocked generally around this time of the year.
"They do expect weather so they have been preparing and ensuring that there is sufficient food in the communities."
The Stuart Highway was re-opened this morning, while the Barkly, Tablelands and Buntine highways, as well as the Tanami Road, remain closed.
