Hundreds of people are stranded in a remote Northern Territory town after Tropical Cyclone Megan tore through the region in Australia.
The category 3 storm made landfall off the coast about 3:30 p.m. on Monday, bringing with it powerful wind gusts at up to 170 km/h and a massive downpour of rain.
About 700 residents of the small town of Borroloola were forced to bunker down during the worst of the weather after evacuation flights had to be suspended when they were not able to land safely.
Local Taku Cooper expressed that residents were “doing our best to stay dry and optimistic” after the cancellation of the evacuation planes.
“It’s cold. It’s wet. It’s windy but we are Borroloola and this is what we do,” she stated in a post to Facebook about 5 p.m.
Commencing her directive, NT Chief Minister Eva Lawler urged people to seek refuge inside the police station, health center, and the numerous cyclone-rated homes in the community to weather the storm.
“There are enough buildings in Borroloola that are rated to withstand a category 3 cyclone to keep the community safe,” she emphasized.
“The ADF will land at Borroloola when safe to do so.”
The most destructive core of the cyclone, bearing the most perilous wind gusts, veered away from the township, thus sparing them from the worst of the weather.
Starting his conversation with the ABC, Borroloola local and King Ash Bay Fishing Club president Ash Garner described it as “good news,” particularly for the many people who were unable to evacuate.
He voiced the sentiment prevailing on the ground:
“Unfortunately, the government left it way too long; it should have really been done yesterday.”
“All the local police, clinic staff, council staff, did an excellent job looking after everyone and keeping them safe.”
The town is still recovering from damage to local roads after Cyclone Lincoln swept through the region a few weeks ago, with locals bracing for significant flooding.
Megan is the fifth cyclone to hit the north of the country this season.
The storm swiftly deescalated to a category 1 cyclone and is projected to further diminish into a tropical low throughout Tuesday morning as it moves westward.
Earlier, residents of Groote Eylandt shared photographs illustrating the extensive damage caused by the storm.
These images depicted trees torn from the ground and properties inundated with floodwaters, following nearly half of the average annual rainfall received over the weekend.
The rain gauge at Groote Eylandt airport recorded 431mm of rainfall in the 24 hours leading up to 9 am on Sunday, marking it as the region’s second wettest day in 103 years of records.
This brought the total rainfall to 680.4mm within just 48 hours, which surpasses more than half of the average annual rainfall of 1275.2mm.
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