Authorities say it's likely to be more than a month before residents evacuated from flooded remote Northern Territory communities can return home, with aerial surveys underway to assess the extent of the damage.
It comes as the community of Borroloola near the Gulf of Carpentaria also becomes isolated by floodwater and the major freight route from the Top End to WA — the Victoria Highway — remains cut by water over the Victoria River Bridge.
About 500 people evacuated because of severe flooding in Kalkarindji, Daguragu and Pigeon Hole are sheltering at Darwin's former quarantine centre in Howard Springs.
At a press conference on Tuesday, NT Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker said residents have been told initial aerial surveys show the worst damage appears to be in Daguragu and Pigeon Hole, which are both south-west of Katherine.
He said with "most, if not all, [houses]" seriously damaged, residents of those communities would likely have the longest wait before they can return home.
"We're trying to work out some timeframes as to when people may be repatriated," he said.
"On certain current advice, we expect that that could be at least four weeks, if not even longer."
He said it was likely to be a shorter wait for residents of nearby Kalkarindji, where just under half of the community's homes have been impacted.
"What we need to ascertain now is that the water quality is appropriate, and work through ensuring that the road is accessible and that the store is ready for any potential return," he said.
"We anticipate to know that in the next 48 hours, as to what potential timeframe will work towards people from Kalkarindji returning."
On Tuesday the territory government announced a $2.8 million in disaster assistance payments for residents affected by severe flooding.
Families are eligible for payments of $1400 and adults can access $560 each.
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said the NT government could also seek further assistance from the Commonwealth once damage assessments had been completed.
Emergency supplies promised for Lajamanu, Borroloola now isolated
The police commissioner said emergency plans were now also in the works to get food supplies to Lajamanu, further south of Katherine, which has been isolated for a longer than usual period over the wet season.
Concerns were raised late last week that the community store had been unable to restock as planned.
In the gulf region, authorities say the large community of Borroloola has also been cut off by water flowing over the bridge across the McArthur River.
But Commissioner Chalker said there were no plans to evacuate the community at this stage.
"In regards to our pre-planning, the community has been well-stocked and well-supplied," he said.
"The community are well aware that the bridge was likely to be cut off for a period of time and they're in pretty good shape to be able to wait that out."
Rail line to reopen, people urged not to panic buy
Fresh food shortages in Darwin and Alice Springs supermarkets on Monday continued on Tuesday, with deliveries slowed by the transfer of freight to road trains because of damage to the rail line.
A spokesperson said the government has been advised the rail line is set to reopen on Wednesday morning.
A sign on display in Alice Springs read: "Due to the Tennant Creek train derailment, today's fruit and vegetable load was not received. We won't be getting any new load until further notice. Apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused."
The chief minister and police commissioner partly blamed "panic buying" for the issues.
"There is no need to be worried about the supply of items into our grocery stores, we are monitoring every store across the territory," Ms Fyles said.
"You may not get what you wanted for dinner or your favourite item, but we have plenty of stores already here in the territory, and we're seeing, as we have done in the past, when there's impacts to roads or railway, things are re-routed.
In a statement, a Woolworths spokeswoman said the derailment had impacted delivery schedules and volumes at its NT stores.
Wet weather to clear in coming days
On the weekend, water rising over the Victoria River Bridge blocked the only remaining road route to the eastern Kimberley, which has been cut off from the rest of WA since flood events in January.
Sally Cutter from the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) told ABC Radio's NT Country Hour floodwaters at the Victoria River Crossing had now peaked.
But she said the deck of the bridge was still expected to be submerged until the end of the week.
The McCarthur River in Borroloola is expected to peak on Wednesday afternoon.
Ms Cutter said rain is expected to become more isolated across the territory as drier air moved into region.
"The dry air is basically halfway between Alice Springs and Tennant Creek at the moment," she said.
"As that moves north, that's basically going to help stop the clouds for those who want the sunshine, to help with drying things out and get the grass to grow."
