Cattle producers in the Northern Territory's Barkly region have welcomed heavy rain that fell across the region this week.
Ex-Tropical Cyclone Ellie dropped several hundred millimetres of rain across large parts of the Barkly, Tanami and Victoria River districts.
The Barkly, a large area of Mitchell Grass plains north-east of Tennant Creek, contains some of the NT's best cattle country.
Alexandria Station received 230mm over the week, with more than 150mm falling in one day.
The station's Kelly Lock said it was uncommon to see that amount of rainfall in December.
"This is the first time that we've seen such big rain," she said.
"I've never seen 156mm in one day fall down, so it's pretty nice to see and lovely to see all the water out and about.
"The kids are loving playing in the mud, and I don't think I've seen the grass look so green."
A 'massive start' to summer
At Lake Nash Station, near the NT/Queensland border, the Georgina River burst its banks after the property received more than 250mm of rain over four days.
Lake Nash's outstation Argadargada had just over 500mm of rain over the same period.
Further south at Tobermorey Station, the homestead was encircled by floodwaters but was prevented from going under by a levee built in 2019.
The station's Hugh Godfrey said floodwaters had knocked over some fences but the green grass expected to grow once waters receded would outweigh any damage.
"It's a massive start to the summer for us," he said.
"We were pretty light on for feed before this … these sort of falls don't happen that often.
"The cattle will start to freshen up now … we've just got to find a few people to do some flood fencing now."
Barkly Highway will reopen today
The Northern Territory’s only sealed road into Queensland will reopen at 8AM today, after being closed due to flood damage since Boxing Day.
Road crews began work on the damaged section of the Barkly Highway, between the Barkly Homestead roadhouse and the Queensland border, on Friday.
The Highway will open from 8AM to 4PM today, with one lane under manned traffic control.
The highway will then close overnight and re-open 8AM until 4PM on Sunday, January 1.
Motorists should expect long delays, according to the NT Department of Infrastructure.
A section of the Stuart Highway, between Tennant Creek and Wycliffe Well, is only open to high-clearance 4WD vehicles due to water over the road.
