A remote Northern Territory community is running low on food after flooding turned a crucial stretch of road into a "boggy mud patch" that has stopped trucks in their tracks.
Home to about 760 people, Lajamanu was among five communities west of Katherine hit by heavy rain last week as a tropical low swept across the territory.
The NT police commissioner on Tuesday said emergency plans were underway to get food supplies to Lajamanu, which had been isolated for a longer than usual period over the wet season.
The community received one tonne of food and critical goods via airplane on Thursday afternoon.
But Arnhem Land Progress Aboriginal Corporation (ALPA) chief executive Alastair King said although he was grateful for the food drop, it wasn't enough to adequately replenish stocks.
"We need 30 tonnes to get back to any sort of reliable stock levels," he said.
"People get anxious when they see that the bread is running out, when the chicken's low, when the meat's low.
"I mean, these are your staple products that everyone expects to be able to access every day of the week."
Store responsible
The six-hour drive from Katherine to Lajamanu involves a 100-kilometre stretch of unsealed road, which is often in poor condition.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the NT's emergency operations centre said it was the responsibility of community stores to be prepared each wet season.
"Each community store across the Northern Territory is expected to be prepared for the wet season by ensuring sufficient supplies of critical goods are in place for community members and pets during any emergency," the spokesperson said.
"The Lajamanu community is an ALPA store and we work with ALPA to enable access wherever possible to ensure the store is stocked."
The spokesperson said the road was open for high clearance four-wheel drive vehicles.
Lajamanu elder Andrew Johnson Japanangka said the unsealed road into the community was an ongoing problem, even for some four-wheel drive vehicles.
"The road is bad," he said.
"If you've got a good four-wheel drive, you'll reach the other end and catch up to the sealed road, but when there's rain between, it's bad luck for some cars to get across."
Dramatic wet season
Mr King said Lajamanu generally wasn't cut off for long during the wet season.
He said the town's food store doubled its stock levels from three weeks to six weeks' supply as the wet season approached, which was usually enough to get by.
But he said this year's wet season had been more intense than previous years.
Many regions have already surpassed their average wet season rainfall, with flooding and road damage causing ongoing headaches for many communities.
They include nearby Timber Creek, which was ravaged by ex-Tropical Cyclone Ellie earlier this year, as well as Daguragu, Pigeon Hole and Kalkarindji, where about 500 people were evacuated last week.
"We really haven't had regular trucks in since Christmas and that's what's causing us the pain," Mr King said.
"When the road's OK we get as many trucks in as we can, but then it rains again and we can't get trucks in for another couple of weeks and then the stock goes down."
Living in hope
Mr King said ALPA had been working with the government, but anxiety was growing among community members.
He said the Lajamanu store had spent nearly $100,000 flying goods in, but didn't have the funds to continue to do that.
"We're just hoping like hell that those roads get a chance to dry out," he said.
Mr King said he hoped the government would reopen the road to large food trucks as soon as possible.
"We need [the government] to continue to support us," he said.
"It's not our fault that we've run out of stock — it's not our fault that Mother Nature's been particularly difficult."
In a statement, a spokesperson for the NT government said government agencies and remote communities regularly worked together to ensure residents had enough food.
"Each year the Top End has the potential to experience severe weather events and emergency planning is undertaken to prepare for these events," the spokesperson said.
"Forward planning by all parties is essential and stakeholders work together to ensure communities remain safe, which includes having adequate food supplies."
