Nauiyu residents return to 'gut-wrenching' scenes of flood devastation

Service providers in the flood-affected community of Nauiyu / Daly River are pleading for governments to better support the remediation of the town as evacuees return to the area following devastating flooding.

Residents began arriving home last week after spending three months in evacuation centres, finding both repaired homes and destruction upon their return.

Flooding in the remote town, located about 220 kilometres south-west of Darwin, saw residents evacuated in February and again in March.

Wally Johnston, a long-time Nauiyu resident whose home was among the first to be cleaned, said he and his family were glad to be back in community.

"We're doing a lot of things that we missed out on, like fishing and being outside," he said.

"No-one's telling us what to do, where to go, what time to sign in, what time to sign out."

While many residents are relieved to be back, piles of dirt and damaged infrastructure have left some community members, including Ronald Cooper, with mixed feelings about coming home.

"I'm glad to be back, and sad," he said.

"It's a bit gut-wrenching. I went for a drive yesterday just to see how it feels around the community and it's still a big mess, so that's a bit hard."

Evidence of the floods which saw the Daly River peak at a record height of 16.26 metres in March can still be seen throughout the community.

Mounds of dirt line the roadside, while large parts of a barbed wire fence around the public swimming pool are strewn on the ground, the pool itself dusty and littered with rubbish.

Mr Cooper said the damage presented health and safety concerns.

"I reckon for the older people they're going to be a bit scared of melioidosis and that sort of thing in the soil," he said.

Funding issues hinder recovery efforts

With the remaining Nauiyu evacuees set to return over the coming month, the Victoria Daly Regional Council (VDRC) said funding was desperately needed to remediate buildings not owned by the NT government.

The Nauiyu Aged Care Service facility is among the sites owned by the Green River Aboriginal Corporation (GRAC) and leased to the local council.

As of Wednesday, it was still riddled with black mould and asbestos.

"We [normally] feed two meals a day to older people in community, we drive around to their houses, we do washing, we'll bring them in and do activities," VDRC chief executive Jennifer Marston said.

"We can't offer any of that to anyone [at the moment], and I know they're all coming back soon. So we're really keen to make sure we can stand up with service again."

GRAC chief executive Wayne Buckley said the corporation could not afford to repair council workers' homes.

"This is an organisation that runs on delivering government services ... so we don't have the [deep] pockets of money, nor do we have the opportunity to generate revenue," he said.

"We can't repair the assets for aged care, we can't repair the council offices, we can't repair the houses for the staff of those organisations to come back and deliver services."

Both Mr Buckley and Ms Marston said they had written to the territory and federal governments requesting funding to bring the buildings back online.

Mayor Brian Pedwell said he was frustrated by the consultation process between the NT government and local stakeholders.

"They've been keeping us at an arm's length," he said.

"They say they've consulted us, but they've just fixed up their assets."

Questions remain over relocation of community

In the wake of the flooding, residents and community leaders are looking to restart conversations about a proposal to relocate Nauiyu to higher ground.

Mr Cooper said the idea was floated decades ago after major flooding in 1998 and he would like to see the plan revisited and acted upon.

"I reckon it should go ahead, get a few more houses built up in the hills," he said.

Ms Marston voiced similar frustrations, saying talk of relocating the community was recurring but that there was a lack of commitment to action the plan.

"What we see is a commitment in the short-term from [the National Emergency Management Agency or the NT government] to create a master plan, and then the master plan doesn't result in the funds to build the new community," she said.

"What we're looking for here is the master plan to end up with a commitment from all levels of government to actually invest in the future of Nauiyu."

Mr Pedwell vowed to keep pushing the government to make the relocation happen.

"It's all a talkfest at the moment, because we haven't been invited to that process," he said.

"When's the commitment going to happen?"