More than 20 tonnes of food and other emergency supplies has started to arrive in Coober Pedy today as authorities monitor the impact of more rain on South Australia's sodden outback.
Between 50 and 150 millimetres of rain is forecast to hit parts of the state's north-west over the next three days, further flooding a region that is already mostly closed off to the rest of Australia because of heavy downpours in the past week-and-a-half.
A large C-27 cargo plane left the RAAF Base Edinburgh at midday and arrived in Coober Pedy about two hours later, stocked with pallets full of supplies.
Five more similar flights will head north over the next 24 hours.
"We've got around 20 tonnes of essential, primarily food goods," State Emergency Service (SES) chief officer Chris Beattie said.
"This is chilled goods, frozen goods, fresh food and fresh meat.
"We have around four tonnes of meat and so on — so very much it's essential food supplies for that community."
SA SES deputy chief officer Liz Connell said the agency had been working with the local community to determine what its needs were.
Three trucks full of food normally arrive in Coober Pedy each week, however, they have mostly not been able to get past flooding over the Stuart Highway at Glendambo, about 250 kilometres south.
More rain to hit region
The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast heavy rain and thunderstorms over the north-west pastoral district from this afternoon and into Tuesday.
She warned tourists to stay away from the area.
"We particularly encourage people that are planning to go up into that area to delay those plans," she said.
"There's a blockage in the Stuart Highway and we cannot get people past that Glendambo blockage and we're continuing to work with that."
Six extra SES personnel are already in Coober Pedy to plan for water rescues, and more are coming to distribute food to the town, via its supermarket.
The commander of the Army's 9th Brigade, Graham Goodwin, will oversee the operation.
He said the Defence Force would provide more assistance where required.
"Let me assure the people of Coober Pedy and the surrounding areas: there will be food coming, there will be supplies coming, and that will be on an ongoing basis until we get through this particular period of emergency," he said.
Road and rail closed for a while
Ms Connell said repairs to the railways linking South Australia with the Northern Territory and Western Australia were now expected to be completed between February 14 and 17.
An Australian Rail Track Corporation spokesman said repairs were underway along 300km of track but "a small section" remained inaccessible.
He estimated it would reopen on February 12.
It is unclear when the Stuart Highway will reopen.
"The road infrastructure, currently they're still trying to assess it," Ms Connell said.
"Many of the roads are still underwater and the assessment is still unable to be actioned."
McArdle Freight trucking company owner Tamara McArdle said it was frustrating being shunted between government departments not taking responsibility for the situation.
"One of the bigger problems is, who's responsible for assessing and fixing the situation?" she said.
"Talk to a department of roads, speak to the police, everyone keeps kind of pushing it somewhere else."
