Former tropical cyclone Ellie has brought heavy rain to south-west Central Australia and restricted access to roads and remote communities after making a return to the Northern Territory over the weekend.
The system, which first hit the Northern Territory on December 22, moved from the Kimberley back to the territory at about midday on Saturday.
Its return prompted a severe weather warning on Saturday for south-western parts of the territory, which were warned to brace for heavy rain and damaging winds.
That warning was cancelled at about 7am on Sunday, though a flood watch remains in place and authorities are continuing to monitor rainfall levels.
The highest rainfalls recorded in the 24 hours up to 9am Sunday were at Pine Hill (54mm), Territory Grape (50mm) and Walungurru (50mm).
There were also significant falls in Mount Denison (46mm), Arden Soak (34mm), Curtin Springs (33mm), Yulara (29mm) and Watarrka (28mm).
The heavy rails have restricted sections of the Stuart and Barkly Highways and made some access roads to remote communities impassable, although there have been no reports of flood or storm damage within communities.
Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) senior meteorologist Sally Cutter said the system was now weakening and moving towards Queensland.
"We're starting to see the end of Ellie," she said.
"The actual low itself is weakening out.
"We're still seeing some rain through that area [but] that will ease off over the next 24 hours."
Rain isolates communities and restricts road access
About a dozen remote communities in the south-west of the territory have been left cut off by road, air or both in the aftermath of former tropical cyclone Ellie.
Most of those are inaccessible by road and can still be reached by air, but several – including Haasts Bluff, Mt Liebig, and Ampilatwatja – have been completely isolated.
Central Desert Regional Council chief executive Leslie Manda said while some communities in the council area had been cut off beforehand, the system's return had seen another four communities become unreachable via road.
"They are dirt roads; once there's water, there will be water damage," he said.
"We''ll do an assessment once we can get to those areas, after the water goes down."
Peter Dash, incident controller of the emergency operations centre based in Alice Springs, said essential supplies in those isolated communities were being monitored.
"We know there's a couple of communities that in a couple of days were expecting food drops, [and] that may not happen now," he said.
"We are prepared and we are looking at alternatives for getting food into these communities.
"By no means will they be stranded, [and] they've got sufficient food stocks."
Earlier, there were concerns the system could close parts of the Stuart Highway and the Barkly Highway.
But both main roads were still open as of Sunday afternoon, subject to restrictions in some sections due to water over the road.
NT Road Transport Association chief executive Louise Bilato said main roads in the region had fared well, but she urged people to take care in case sections had deteriorated or been damaged.
Flood risk remains
A flood watch remained in place for central, western and inland parts of the Northern Territory throughout Sunday, with isolated rainfall totals of up to 100mm forecast for Sunday and today.
However, Ms Cutter said, rainfall in the south-west was forecast to ease to isolated showers this week, meaning flooding would become less likely.
"If we get the next the monsoon burst with widespread rainfall or we get reasonably widespread totals, we could see those rivers starting to come up again," she said.
"It's really a case of how long it is between the rain bursts and how widespread that rain is.
"If it's isolated, it's not so much of an issue for the big rivers flooding, but if you get widespread rainfall, of significant volume, we will see those rivers rise."
Mr Dash said the emergency operations centre would continue to monitor the situation during the coming days.
He urged motorists to take care on roads in the area, and avoid travel "unless absolutely necessary".
For now, Mr Manda said, there was relief among locals that the damage had not been more severe.
"We've seen the worst of it, and hopefully it does not get any worse," he said.
