cut off at the Crossing

OMG  Not the bridge! 
Rain, cyclones, road damage and flooding is part of life in northern Australia and is expected every Wet Season….but not like this. Ex-tropical cyclone Ellie has sure made a mess of the Kimberley in more ways than one. Of course, the town of Fitzroy Crossing and surrounding communities and properties have taken the brunt of the destruction as the mighty Fitzroy River broke its banks (peaking at 15.81m) with homes and businesses destroyed. Whilst no human life was lost, the images of stranded and drowning wildlife and stock (700,000 cattle died) have been extremely disturbing. People being flown out of ‘The Zone’ in Chinooks and every other size and type of aircraft made the West Kimberley towns of Broome, Derby and Fitzroy look like a warzone. Thankfully it wasn’t.

​If that’s not enough, the East Kimberley towns of Kununurra, Wyndham, Halls Creek and Warmun are now cut off from the West due to the destruction of the Fitzroy Crossing bridge. There is only one road connecting us to the supply lines from Perth and its gone. Trucks with food and other freight need to go the long way around through SA and NT – a 2000km, 2 day detour – inflating freight costs which are being passed on to us all as consumers. Whilst we wait the 2+ years it will take to build a new bridge, a barge system will be used to cross the river, and a revamped low level crossing will be constructed once the Wet Season is over.  In the meantime, we can only hope that the Victoria Highway connecting Kununurra to the NT doesn’t get cut off again – we still have another 2 months of the season to go.