Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred: Borroloola bridge collapses, town split in half after NT flooding
Updated
The community of Borroloola has been physically split in half after heavy rainfall and flooding caused by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred partly collapsed a bridge.
The Rocky Creek Bridge links the north and south sides of the town, located on the Gulf of Carpentaria, about 1,000km south-east of Darwin.
The bridge was badly damaged and is currently impassable, Mabunji Corporation chief executive Greg Crofts said.
"It's totally written off ... it's collapsed totally in the centre," he said.
Mr Crofts fears the division of the town will cause social and economic stress for residents and businesses, and said tourism would also be affected.
He said many people living in town camps did not have a car and would struggle to get across the water to access services, as currently the only way to get there was to drive about 30km around the town on another road, which would be especially problematic if there was a medical emergency.
"Children getting to school is going to be an even bigger issue; there's excuses now being put in people's way not to come to work, not to send their kids to school and so forth," he said.
Mr Crofts said the community would have to wait for the floodwaters to recede and for the ground to harden before proper works could begin.
"It could be up to six months before this bridge is reopened," he said.
Rebuild an opportunity to boost local training
A spokesman for the Roper Gulf Council said the NT Government handed it the causeway "many years ago".
"The council has never received specific funding for its ongoing maintenance," he said.
"At this stage, a repair cost and timeframe has not been determined, but the council is working with stakeholders to ensure it is reopened and able to again be utilised by the Borroloola community as soon as is practicable.
"The council is liaising with the NT Government to investigate if any national disaster relief assistance is available to fund the cost of the repairs."
Local member Gerry McCarthy took to Facebook to update the community on the situation.
"Take care on Rocky Creek Bridge as the collapsed cell will be inspected and repairs conducted when water level drops. Plans for a safe pedestrian walkway are in motion with construction soon. Road traffic to south end of town via rubbish dump road for the time being, please be patient and safe on the roads," he wrote.
Mr Crofts warned the local Roper Gulf Council and the NT Government from getting caught up in a bureaucratic tangle over who is responsible for repairing the bridge.
"What we'd like to see is somebody stand up and take leadership for it and actually have it done quickly, because if this takes up to six months, we're back in the wet season and this town has lost all [those] tourism dollars and they've lost everything else, it's just been a total financial burden on the community," he said.
"We had more storms and rain last night, we still have a month or six weeks of the wet season to go."
Mr Crofts said rebuilding the bridge could be an chance to upskill locals.
"If we're serious about Aboriginal employment and teaching people, here's an opportunity: bring in a contractor, have it managed properly ... and let's get a proper bridge built and one the town can be proud of because it was built by people in the town."
"There's businesses here who are going to lose money so they're going to need income from this construction to help top them up.
"The money should not be leaving this town, which is what will happen if [the contract] goes anywhere else."
Tony Jack, mayor of Roper Gulf regional council, said representatives from the Department of Infrastructure had visited and inspected the site, but it was not yet known when or how the bridge would be fixed.
Mr Jack said all stakeholders would have more information about a repair schedule later in the week.
The ABC is seeking comment from the NT Department of Infrastructure.
Topics: floods, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, cyclone, local-government, borroloola-0854
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