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19th December 2003 as School holidays had
commenced , another of our Tropical lifestyle companions
developed in the Arafura Sea.
Tropical Cyclone Debbie roared into action as
it cruised Westward towards Darwin, (If you were guided by the
NT News you were doomed if you happened to live in Darwin) but
then took a more Southerly turn and crossed the coast heading
deeper into Arnhemland as it "weakened".
It kept its momentum as a tropical depression dumping its load
as it went, which isnt all that bad when it is moving (the load
is spread), but something strange happened as it approached
Katherine. During the day before it had dumped .251 mm in
various points in the Katherine Rivers upper catchment (Yeralba
Ridge) , this was to have an effect on river levels in the next
few days.
Looking North of town as the Tropical
Depression came closer DEC 21 2003
But as it headed South it was as if Tindal
Radar was a magnet and was drawing the swirling core of the
ex-cyclone to sit smack on the radar dome. (I just wish I had
all the radar images that we were watching online at the time)
(only managed to keep one). In Radar terms (the old radar
colours of Yellow & the blues with Yellow being moderate
rainfall) the "core" of Ex Debbie was about 30 km wide in
diameter. So on a map the rim of the core was on the outskirts
of Katherine and a few km past Cutta Cutta Caves area, The rest
of the Katherine region was blue with more defined clear areas
continuing in a swirl around the centre.
Apart from being drawn to the radar dome area
(as we could see on the BOM radar) the mass became stationary
(still a huge swirling yellow mass dumping its load) for a whole
6 hours before heading West South West again into the Victoria
River District of the NT.
Record Rainfall for Katherine
At this time Tindal had received a whopping
284 mm (majority of it basically over 6 hours) Katherine
Township received 228mm (& Research Farm 250mm).
See here for the Daily Summary
Such a large dump of rain in a short period
only means trouble, and Tindal Creek became a means of
dispersing this pool of water. Flowing from the Tindal RAAF Base
(on the South of Stuart Highway) & further North (From the Nth
side of Highway) it converges not all that far from the rear of
the WeighBridge just (out of town) & crosses the Stuart Highway
yet again before meandering over Urulla Rd and into the Town
Drain sysyem crossing the Victoria Highway out near the Railway
overpass.
At this time the Katherine River in town was
only just starting to get the Rainfall rises from the upper
catchment, so combined with the water from Tindal area we had a
reasonable river rise.
Over the next day there were many more roads
cut off and Kids Birthday parties not attended (if you lived out
Florina Road way) |
