On average, Australia’s driest town, Oodnadatta, gets just 172mm of rain a year. But the small town in inland South Australia is likely to get two years’ worth of rain in a single week.
Rainfall records are likely to topple across inland areas, as rains of 150–300mm are predicted this week, following heavy rains in recent days.
Heavy rains are lashing swathes of arid central Australia, as intensely humid tropical air from the Top End is pushed south. Alice Springs is on flood watch. The Trans-Australian rail line is cut amid track washouts. The Northern Territory’s main highway is closed.
