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Speaker 1: Now we know that communities in the Gregory, the Barkley

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Speaker 1: and Tanami districts where they were all hit over the weekend.

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Speaker 1: It was expected there was going to be damaging winds

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Speaker 1: and certainly some intense rain as a result of ex

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Speaker 1: tropical Cyclone Lincoln across the border near Borilula on Friday.

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Speaker 1: It's expected that it's going to continue to move across

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Speaker 1: the territory and into Western Australia later today. Now we

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Speaker 1: are going to catch up with the Bureau of Meteorology

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Speaker 1: after eleven o'clock this morning, but joining me in the

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Speaker 1: studio right now to let us know how those communities

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Speaker 1: are going and how we fared over the weekend. It's

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory Emergency Services Director Flur O'Connor. Good morning to

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Speaker 1: your Flur. Good morning, Katie, thanks so much for your time. Now,

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Speaker 1: how did it all go over the weekend for those communities.

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Speaker 2: Well, obviously we were well prepared in a lot of

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Speaker 2: those remote communities. We had Tropical Cyclone Lincoln named on

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Speaker 2: Friday just before lunchtime, but that tropical cyclone Morning was

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Speaker 2: downgraded later that evening, so the expectation of those strong

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Speaker 2: gusts was not you know, it didn't occur as as

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Speaker 2: severely as we were expecting, and as the system crossed

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Speaker 2: the coast into the territory.

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Speaker 1: That's always a good thing, isn't it. I mean, we

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Speaker 1: always prepare for the worst, and I think that that's

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Speaker 1: what you've got to do when you live in a

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Speaker 1: place like the Northern Territory exactly.

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Speaker 2: I guess you know, our planning in relation to any

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Speaker 2: kind of weather event, whether it's just a tropical low

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Speaker 2: or a tropical cyclone, is looking at the different scenarios

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Speaker 2: and planning for each of those scenarios. We've fared quite well. Obviously,

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Speaker 2: we've been expecting quite a significant amount of rain being

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Speaker 2: dropped from this system as it traverses across the NT

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Speaker 2: and police to report obviously from this morning hearing from

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Speaker 2: local controllers advising that over the last you know, twelve

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Speaker 2: twenty four hours, they haven't seen as much rain as

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Speaker 2: we were expecting, which is good news, meaning that catchments

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Speaker 2: are getting a bit of a reprieve from being dropped

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Speaker 2: with a lot of rain.

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Speaker 1: Well, that is the really pleasing thing to hear, because

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Speaker 1: I guess the warrior is if you get those huge

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Speaker 1: amounts of rain, then you know, communities get isolated. That

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Speaker 1: warrior around food and whether they then need to be

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Speaker 1: sort of transported out of the community become issues.

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Speaker 2: And that's right, I mean for this event, and obviously

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Speaker 2: we've just recently had tropical low O three U, so

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Speaker 2: we're pretty our emergency operations center, we're on top of

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Speaker 2: ensuring that stores in those communities of the path of

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Speaker 2: this tropical low are well stocked and well prepared. You know,

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Speaker 2: there are some communities which obviously because of the weather

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Speaker 2: we've experienced in the last week two weeks where water

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Speaker 2: is over the road and they can't get some of

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Speaker 2: the like the road trains through that. There was probably

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Speaker 2: Borrow Lula, we're experiencing lack of fresh you know, fresh goods,

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Speaker 2: fresh food, fresh vegetables. But that's been managed well.

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Speaker 1: That is good to hear, and so it doesn't sound

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Speaker 1: as though anywhere it's become isolated at this point, have they.

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Speaker 2: Or well, yeah, well, I think there are probably two

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Speaker 2: communities at the moment that come We've got maybe Yarrelin

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Speaker 2: and also Borrow Lula. Obviously Borrow Lula has a closure

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Speaker 2: of the Carpenteria Highway, so they might be experiencing a

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Speaker 2: bit of isolation, yeahs yarlin. But those communities are being

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Speaker 2: managed through their local emergency committees and getting regular updates

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Speaker 2: and one around the weather, and also ensuring that the

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Speaker 2: stores have sufficient stocked and those checks are daily.

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Speaker 1: Yeah right. And so they're the on the areas at

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Speaker 1: this point in time where those highways are cut off

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Speaker 1: or is there much concerned around the highways?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so at the moment the and obviously check Anti

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Speaker 2: Road Report for the latest up to date information on closures.

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Speaker 2: But Stuart Highway, while it's open at the moment, there

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Speaker 2: is a section where there is water over the road

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Speaker 2: forty five kilometers south Tenant Creek, and their recommendation is

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Speaker 2: for high clearance vehicles only. I believe only one lanes

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Speaker 2: open at the moment, but vehicles can get through if

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Speaker 2: they've got high clearance vehicles.

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Speaker 1: Or we might try and get a bit of an

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Speaker 1: update on that as well, or we'll keep an eye

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Speaker 1: on things throughout the morning. So from emergency services perspective,

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Speaker 1: were there any calls out for assistance or anything like

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Speaker 1: that from those communities?

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Speaker 2: No call out directly to Anti Emergency Service, but I

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Speaker 2: will reiterate around the dangers on crossing flooded waters or

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Speaker 2: flooded roads. From what I understand, Anti Police have advised

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Speaker 2: that they have had to provide assistance to three vehicles

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Speaker 2: just over the last twelve hours, so they also police

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Speaker 2: are wanting to reinforce the messaging also about.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, three vehicles in the last twelve hours, that is

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Speaker 1: quite a high volume. Do you know where they were?

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Speaker 2: I believe around Tenant Creek. Tenant Creek has seen quite

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Speaker 2: a significant amount of rainfall, like probably over one hundred

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Speaker 2: millimeters of rainfall over the last twenty four hours forty

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Speaker 2: eight hours, they've had quite a lot of rain. And

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Speaker 2: I guess with this system and I'm sure you'll hear

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Speaker 2: from the Bureau later today around how it's tracking and

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Speaker 2: the type of rain it's dropping. But what we're looking

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Speaker 2: at with the system is the tail end of where

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Speaker 2: the system's wrapping around. That's where the rainfall is likely

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Speaker 2: to create impact. And obviously Tenant Creek has seen a

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Speaker 2: bit of that with the rain that they've been seeing.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, we will keep a close on things,

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Speaker 1: and as I said, we'll catch up with the bureau

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Speaker 1: after eleven o'clock to get a bit of a further

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Speaker 1: update as well for anything else we should be aware

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Speaker 1: of before I let you go a Minute's that time

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Speaker 1: of the year that we all need to just make

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Speaker 1: sure we're prepared for anything, right exactly.

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Speaker 2: It's the wet season for the top end and also

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Speaker 2: even just for Central Australia obviously the flood risk is

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Speaker 2: for them at this time of the year. Always being

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Speaker 2: prepared with your emergency kit three days sufficient stock, food, water, etc.

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Speaker 2: And make sure you have a household emergency plan. Talk

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Speaker 2: to your members of your household, whether it's family members

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Speaker 2: or housemates around what to do, where you're keeping your

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Speaker 2: safe items and just be prepared well.

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Speaker 1: Flor O'Connor, the Northern Territory Emergency Services Director, always good

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Speaker 1: to catch up with you. I appreciate your time this morning.

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Speaker 1: Thank you,