SA: Truckie, tourists stranded, police station flooded

AAP General News (Australia)
02-12-2000
SA: Truckie, tourists stranded, police station flooded

ADELAIDE, Feb 12 AAP - Police today dropped food to people stranded by torrential rains
in South Australia's far north.

Police used a plane to take food to a 35-year-old man whose truck is bogged on the
Williams Creek Road, 70km east of Coober Pedy, 900km north-west of Adelaide.

The truck driver had been there since Thursday without food or water but was in no
danger, Senior Constable Adam Thomson said.

Two people are stuck in a vehicle on a road to Mount Dare, and Adelaide man David Kenning
is stranded alone at Mount Dare station, near the Northern Territory border.

None were in immediate danger and food would be dropped to them too, Const Thomson said.

At Marla, 1,100km north of Adelaide, the police complex had been flooded and needed
to be sandbagged to prevent any further water damage.

The Stuart Highway was cut between Erldunda and Alice Springs and roads in the area
were expected to be closed for at least two days.

The record rains, which dumped 130mm on Mount Dare early Thursday, had caused the Finke
and Palmer rivers in lower Northern Territory to break their banks, Const Thomson said.

Roads in South Australia were open, but police were warning travellers to go no further
than Marla.

The forecast was for more heavy rain, with at least 50mm to fall over the next 24 hours.

At Mount Dare station, acting manager David Kenning was waiting for a creek to subside
so he could check whether the property's second airstrip was okay for landings.

He said light rain was still falling, but the water surrounding the house was dropping slowly.

Mr Kenning, who is looking after the station for the manager while he is on holidays,
said he was nearly out of diesel and was only turning the generator on "to make a cup
of tea" or keep the chiller going at night.

The station, part of a national park, is used as a staging post for tourists going
into the Simpson Desert or to Dalhousie hot springs, and has a freezer full of food which
could spoil, he said.

"I've got plenty of food for myself, but when the diesel runs out I'll lose the fax
machine and answering machine and that's a bit of a worry," Mr Kenning said.

AAP tj/ej/bwl

KEYWORD: FLOODS SA NIGHTLEAD

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