With the Stuart Highway still flooded, South Australian freight companies serving the Northern Territory are counting the cost of a 3,000-kilometre detour through New South Wales and Queensland.
Road trains carrying groceries have been forced to take the "long way" to help desperate supermarkets restock because the road is submerged between Glendambo, about 600kms north-west of Adelaide, and Coober Pedy, another 250kms deeper into the SA Outback.
On Friday night, some trucks headed north were allowed to ease past Glendambo on the submerged Stuart Highway under police escort.
But the Department of Transport closed the highway to all traffic soon after, saying it was unclear when it might reopen.
ABC Transport and Gilbert's Transport Services chief executive Jamie Eccleston said the detour was a "big call" and added significant costs.
He said the route took trucks from Glendambo to Port Augusta, Broken Hill, Cobar, Charleville, Longreach and Mount Isa and back to the Stuart Highway and either Darwin or Alice Springs.
"I heard the operations bloke give their instructions to the drivers and I think I heard some collective groans on the other end, because that's a lot of backtracking," Mr Eccleston said.
Besides the distance, road trains were unable to haul three trailers in parts of NSW and Queensland because of state regulations.
Mr Eccleston said that meant more vehicles, drivers and fuel would be needed to haul extra loads and that they would have to make stops at staging areas where extra trailers could be added and removed.
"Our fuel usage is something in the vicinity of 1.25 kilometres to the litre, so we need to be able to pull those three trailers to make it a viable operation or prices and charges go through the roof per space," he said.
Mr Eccleston said the additional costs would be passed on to clients.
"We hope they can understand our predicament," he said.
"The extra fuel charges, the full gamut of costs will be in their hands."
Waiting it out
Driver Paul Freeth has opted to sit right at Glendambo and wait for the floodwaters to subside and the highway to open.
He is not hauling perishable goods and suspects there is a chance the weather in Queensland could disrupt those drivers who have decided to go the long way.
"If they do get the rain that's forecast from Mount Isa and Cloncurry and stuff, them boys that have taken the big tour may be stuck around there for just as long as what we'll be stuck here for," Mr Freeth said.
But Mr Eccleston who runs two transport companies said they would deal with whatever circumstances arose, from closed highways to a potentially even longer alternative route.
"The only (other) way we've got left is to go to Perth, up the west coast to Kununurra and go into Darwin that way," Mr Eccleston said.
Blackout stretches supplies
A power outage in Glendambo during the week made the situation even tougher for Glendambo, the tiny town already stretched for supplies.
An SA Department of Energy spokesperson said a decision to cut power was due to water entering the town's power station.
The town's three generators run water and diesel pumps, air-conditioning and refrigeration.
Richard Partridge, co-manager of the Glendambo BP service station, which serves hot food, had to throw out stock when the refrigerators and cool rooms lost power for 20 hours.
"So today we're busily cleaning and dumping fresh produce," he said.
For Mr Freeth and other truckers, the outage meant no access to toilets or showers until a replacement generator arrived.
Tim Hatfield, from the Department of Infrastructure and Transport, said their crews were out assessing roads daily but there was still just under metre of water across large stretches of the highway.
"The issue is once that water goes back, they're going to have to assess any damage on the road before they can open it up because safety is just paramount, especially out there."
A state of emergency has been declared by the SA government.
