Flooded NT town pleaded for higher ground move 'years ago'

The NT government ignored warnings of “serious and costly damage” if homes and business in the small town of Pigeon Hole, 400km from Katherine, were not relocated out of floodplains, local Mayor Brian Pedwell says.

Severe flooding across the Victoria Daly region has seen hundreds of residents of Nitjpurru Pigeon Hole and nearby Kalkarindji and Daguragu evacuated to Darwin. On Sunday, floodwaters cut the northern freight route across the NT-WA border, partially closing the Victoria Highway.

Home to around 150, flood waters in Pigeon Hole can reach 3.4 metres at the height of the wet season. Aerial images reveal the community has been submerged in water, with only rooftops showing.

The flooding impacted housing built by the NT Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics from 2019 on, including six properties which Victoria Daly Regional Council says it strongly opposed “due to the fact the new development was in the middle of the flood zone”.

Following 2001 floods, the NT government moved the power station, sewerage ponds and airstrip to higher ground – but houses and other infrastructure remained in the flood zone.

A 2020 letter from Mayor Pedwell warned the newer buildings would be at risk of “serious and costly damage” because of their location, saying: “despite community’s calls for all new housing to be located on higher ground, inappropriate housing continues to be constructed in flood-prone areas.”

Today, Mayor Pedwell said the current destruction of community housing and assets “may have been avoided if local voices had been listened to”.

“For the last two decades, we have been yelling from the rooftops about moving the community – this includes the health centre and school – to higher ground,” Mayor Pedwell said.

“Instead of listening and doing something about it, the NT government built the new houses right on the banks of the river. It’s no surprise to anyone, that these houses and the livelihoods of the people who lived in them have now been destroyed.”

The ABC quoted Pigeon Hole elder Raymond Hector as saying locals were “filled with fear” every year due to the flooding risk, and it would have been cheaper for the government to have relocated the houses years ago, rather than paying for the clean-up from flood damage.

“There’s a whole lot of money put into the community to rebuild it again, and it’s gone down the drain with the floodwater,” Mr Hector said.