Monday, Nov 17, 2008 at 12:55
November 17, 2008
Article from: Australian Associated Press
HUNDREDS of tourists have been stranded in
Alice Springs after
the desert town was deluged with rain.
The usually bone-dry
Todd River flowed for the second time in a week as the red heart of Australia was hit with hundreds of millimetres of rain.
About 40mm fell on
Alice Springs alone, leaving 22 people when Drive became flooded about 50km west of
Alice Springs.
The group of 4WD drivers and children spent the night in their cars west of Jay
Creek.
There are unconfirmed reports that a 4WD and a ute were swept from the road by the current, but no one was injured.
Day trippers visiting the Glenn Helen Resort, at the western end of the
West MacDonnell Ranges, were also stranded by the flood.
Almost 100 people bunked down at the resort over the weekend, said manager Colin O'Brien.
He recorded 47mm of rain on Saturday, topped up by another 25mm on Sunday.
Mr O'Brien said the outback, which hasn't seen any decent rain since January, looked like it had been “burnt with a giant blow torch”.
“It was just that dry. There was lots of dead bushes, everything looked dead,” he said.
“We needed a good rain and now maybe we'll get some
wildflowers... this should make a big difference to the look of the country.”
The heavy rains forced police to block off all causeways around
Alice Springs over the weekend and the road south of the Stuart Highway was closed to small vehicles.
Mark Hentschel, from
Darwin's Bureau of Meteorology, said more rain was on the way.
He said the average rainfall at
Alice Springs Airport for the month of November was only 53.1mm.
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