Tom Price streets submerged, houses flooded after wild downpour

A trough that covered the central parts of the Pilbara and bought more than 70mm of rain on February 7 saw widespread flooding across Tom Price. The rain caused damage to scores of houses, with the local SES branch receiving seven call-outs, and an evacuation centre set up at Clem Thompson Oval. The Eliwana Airport catchment, located 90km North West of Tom Price, measured 72.2mm of rain over a 24-hour period from 9am on February 7 until the following day. Resident Tessa Atkinson said the thunderstorm lasted for about three hours. “The rain was on and off, but when it was on it was heavy. Flooded my backyard and was halfway up the step (almost) coming into the house,” she said. “That was just from the rain, not the actual flooding that went through town.” Ms Atkinson said on the way back from checking on her friend’s house the water was “roaring through” dirt valleys in town. “Got a bit hairy for a second there I was out the back sweeping the water out the front,” she said. She said water filled the small valley near Dog Park and flowed down her street. “It’s not a lot of damage but being in Tom Price everything takes a long time to get fixed just due to being so isolated,” she said. “The dog park fence is completely down and so is the Lions Park fence. A lot of peoples bins are a few hundred metres down the valley and around eight peoples homes were badly damaged from what I’ve seen on our community Facebook page.” Ms Atkinson said the whole community had come together to help those affected by the floods. The rain extended across the Pilbara with the Department of Fire and Emergency Services put out a warning on February 8 of possible flooding for Newman and Marble Bar after the De Grey River Catchment reported 20-40mm of rain in 24 hours with isolated totals up to 104mm were recorded. “Flooding of low-lying areas and river rises are expected. Many roads, and possibly secondary highways, may be affected. Some communities and homesteads may become or remain isolated. Check road conditions before travelling,” it stated The rain continued on February 9 with the De Grey River Catchment recording rainfall totals of 25mm with isolated totals up to 30-50 mm over the previous 24 hours. Meanwhile in Port Hedland 130mm of rain was reported from February 6-8 and Karratha received 5.8mm in on February 9.