Around 280 evacuees have returned to Borroloola today, 10 days after their community was threatened by flooding from the McArthur River, in the wake of Cyclone Megan.
In a statement released today, the Northern Territory Govenrment said three buses left Darwin last night, each carrying about 50 passengers, for an overnight journey home.
Today, two Air North charter flights carried about 150 people – mostly elderly, medically vulnerable and families with very young children – to McArthur River Mine, where they were transferred to buses for the short drive back to Borroloola.
“The evacuees were very glad to be going home. A number of evacuees who were scheduled to fly home chose to go by bus last night, which we were able to accommodate,” said Incident Controller, Neil Hayes.
“There remain about 60 evacuees who did not take advantage of the transport home. They are now responsible for making their own arrangements and are encouraged to contact the Larrakia Nation Return to Country program.
“With the return of the evacuees to their home community, the response phase to Tropical Low 09U – Cyclone Megan is over and we move to the recovery phase to fully restore the community to ‘business as usual’.
“Hundreds of personnel from all tiers of government, non-government organisations, the private sector and volunteers have been working around the clock to protect the Territory since Cyclone Megan started to develop three weeks ago,” he said.
Member for Barkly, Steve Edgington MLA is calling on the NT Government to fix local roads.
“The roads in all of the Borroloola Town Camps are in an appalling condition and need urgent attention now,” said Mr Edgington.
“It’s time for the Minister for Remote Housing and Homelands to step up, stop passing the buck, show some leadership, and bring all levels of government together to find a solution so that residents can access their homes safely?
“It’s just not good enough – the people of the Barkly deserve better!”
