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La NiA±a
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As you cross the road bridge into Katherine from the north you'll pass a height scale on the redundant rail bridge alongside. The scale ends at 18 metres above the river but by the evening of January 26, 1998, following an Australia Day few in the town will forget, the engorged Katherine river peaked at a record twenty and a half metres.
This staggering volume of water was the result of two cyclones dumping their load over southern Arnhemland - a Wet season of rain in a few days - and was exacerbated by a king tide from the Timor Sea which backed up the water inland. Just about every business in town was under 2m of water, four lives were lost and a crocodile was spotted cruising lazily past the semi-submerged Woolworths. Within two days the waters dropped away as quickly as they had risen and the evacuated townsfolk returned to their ruined homes and businesses to begin the clean-up. Knee-high silt was shovelled out of shops and motel rooms, while the stench of rotting food and drowned cattle enveloped the town. And yet, with voluntary help from other communities and government aid, the town was on its feet within just a couple of weeks. The 1990s saw successive record Wet's in the Top End - partly the consequence of La Nina, El Nino's less well-known and deluge-bringing counterpart Other useful information
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Australia,
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