Tropical Cyclone Marcus prompts Darwin schools to close tomorrow as clean-up continues
Updated
Schools across Darwin will close tomorrow as emergency services work to restore power and water in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Marcus.
Key points:
- More than 26,000 homes without power
- 400 powerlines down and telecommunications not working
- Residents urged to boil drinking water
Forecasters described the category-two cyclone as the strongest in 30 years, that left more than a third of Darwin properties without power.
This morning, Tropical Cyclone Marcus was expected to hit the Kimberly coast near the remote community of Kalumburu as a category-two system.
It was announced Sunday morning that schools across Darwin and Palmerston will be closed on Monday as a precautionary measure.
The public service will work on a skeleton staff.
All three Charles Darwin University campuses are currently being assessed by the safety operator, and students will be advised shortly as to whether they will open.
There are 60,000 properties across Darwin, and 23,000 still have no electricity.
Residents will have to wait until at least Wednesday to get reconnected.
More than 500 reports have been received of trees on power lines and fallen power lines, and hundreds of large trees have been strewn across roads, blocking access to many of Darwin's streets.
Power and Water said crews from Alice Springs and Katherine were being deployed to Darwin to help restore power to the region.
Traffic lights across Darwin also remain out, so drivers are urged to take caution on the roads.
Residents have been urged by the Health Department to drink bottled water or boil water and let it cool before drinking or using for cooking or oral hygiene, as it may be contaminated.
Power and Water says extensive tests of Darwin's water system will begin today, but results could take 48 hours to come back.
Some telecommunications services are not working.
Homes have been trashed and river systems have risen, trapping some isolated communities.
A flood watch is current with possible falls of up to 150mm over the next 24 hours.
Darwin Bunnings has sold out of chainsaws.
Surveys of the damage are still preliminary and it will be days before the total cost of repairs will be known.
Darwin saw persistent gale-force winds of over 62 kilometres per hour for six hours, and recorded a maximum wind gust of 130 kilometres per hour while Marcus was passing overhead on Saturday.
Dum-In-Mirrie received 156mm of rain, while Gunn Point received 135mm.
Emergency response underway
Residents have been urged to be patient and to avoid travelling across the city as hundreds of emergency personnel, police, essential services staff and the Defence Force clear the streets from today.
Crews worked through the night to reopen roads to Darwin's critical infrastructure like the hospital and airport.
Regional Controller Warren Jackson asked residents not to try to move fallen trees or powerlines themselves.
He said the priority had been to clear main roads around Darwin, particularly ones leading to the hospital.
Meanwhile, police said they were disappointed to see people breaching weather warnings as the cyclone crossed the city.
Authorities received multiple reports of people driving through floodwaters and not taking appropriate shelter while the wild winds lashed the Top End.
Regional controller Warren Jackson said several people placed themselves in great danger.
"We watched people put themselves in peril today. Despite all the warnings, in the middle of the storm we saw people driving around into flooded waters, around trees that had clearly fallen," he said.
Looting concerns police
A number of Darwin business owners said they have arrived at work to find their properties looted in the aftermath of tropical cyclone Marcus.
Nursery owner Estelle Cornell said she couldn't believe it when she came to work and found the place raided.
"I've been not only taken out by the cyclone but also robbed," she said.
Darwin Police Regional Manager Warren Jackson said people could try to take advantage of shops closing their doors.
"Crime is always a concern in an emergency situation," he said.
Business reopens, events cancelled
The AFL NT grand finals has been postponed, which was scheduled for this afternoon.
No decision on rescheduling the eight finals has been made yet and AFLNT representatives will meet with stakeholders Sunday morning to plan the completion of the season.
All flights resumed scheduled times at Darwin Airport from 4.15am Sunday.
Some neighbourhood markets such as Nightcliff have been cancelled, but Rapid Creek markets opened.
Casuarina Square will resume normal trading hours today.
Shoal Bay Waste Management facility opened Sunday 7am, however residents have reported large traffic jams getting into the facility.
"Don't get me wrong we are moving, but it's a pretty bumper to bumper situation," a caller told ABC Radio Sunday morning.
"The roads are pretty crazy so if you don't need to do it don't do it."
Another cyclone possible
As the clean-up gets underway, Darwin is also bracing for the threat of another cyclone, as a tropical low could form north of the Territory this week.
The Northern Territory Bureau of Meteorology was keeping a close eye on the monsoon trough developing in the Arafura sea that could form into another cyclone near Darwin midweek.
Forecaster Sally Cutter says it's hard to know which way it will go and how strong it could be.
"It's going to depend exactly where it forms in the trough. It could come through central parts of Top End, could pass close to Gove, or if it forms far enough east go through gulf of Carpentaria and [it could] have little impact," she said.
"But it's still a bit over a week out and the guide at this isn't clear so we are just keeping a very, very close eye on it."
Photo:
Numerous houses throughout Darwin had tree damage after the cyclone. (ABC News: Neda Vanovac)
Topics: cyclone, weather, darwin-0800, nt
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