Australia’s driest town swamped as deadly storms swirl
It was supposed to be Australia’s driest town but Oodnadatta was left facing a sea of buckets and tarps after a massive inland rain hit which claimed one life.
The motorcyclist went missing while trying to cross a flooded stream at Eurelia in South Australia’s Flinders Ranges on Sunday morning.
The 47-year-old’s body was later recovered as severe weather warnings and flash flood warnings continued in the region and the south-eastern part of Australia’s interior.
Flooding has exposed the lack of weatherproofing at the historic Pink Roadhouse, located on the famous Oodnadatta Circuit in SA’s arid north.
The dirt car park in front of the Oodnadatta food stop is a muddy swamp; Locals say it hasn’t rained this much since the 1980s.
Nicole Castagnaro’s roadside shift Sunday was spent unloading more than 30 buckets and containers scattered around the store as the rain continued to fall and the roof continued to leak.
“There is no one around,” he told AAP.
“The roads are closed, we’re running out of food, and if the trucks can’t get through, we’ll have to eat baked beans for the foreseeable future.”
Oodnadatta received around 18mm of rain overnight; This accounts for more than 10 percent of the average annual rainfall of 171 mm.
It has been so long since the tracks were flooded that most locals have no idea what will happen next if food cannot be delivered to the small town and its population of 102 people.
“We can’t live on beans alone, but I don’t know if the military will be able to airlift the supplies, so I guess we’ll find out,” Ms. Castagnaro said.
There’s no end in sight to the massive storm system moving through central Australia, causing widespread rainfall and flash flooding.
Millions of people were still bracing for floods on Sunday night and Monday morning due to severe weather warnings for eastern SA and western Victoria and much of NSW.
SA’s provincial mining town of Coober Pedy also experienced unexpected rain, receiving around 16mm of rainfall overnight.
Bureau of Meteorology Dean Narramore said heavy rain, storms and flooding were expected to continue until at least Monday night.
“While we welcome the agricultural impacts of these widespread rainfalls in some areas, additional rainfall may begin to cause some problems,” he said.
Adelaide, which has received just 3.6mm of rain so far in 2026, was told up to 50mm was expected on Sunday, but heavy downpours fell further north instead.
Yunta in the outback, about 300 kilometers north-east of the SA capital, received 129mm of rain, while rural centers such as Mildura in north-west Victoria were also flooded.
The downpour came as a shock to many in SA after forecasters predicted the state’s first dry summer since 2019 – the eighth since records began.
Meteorologists have described a week-long slow-moving tropical low over the Simpson Desert in the southeast of the Northern Territory as highly unusual.
Some rain is welcome for many farmers, but forecasters warn the benefits will turn into risks as rainfall totals exceed 50mm.
The low is expected to weaken as it moves eastward, but consistent declines have triggered warnings of increased shark activity in Sydney Harbor and coastal NSW estuaries following heavy rain.
Rich currents can attract bait fish and therefore sharks, triggering attacks such as the one that killed a schoolboy in Sydney in January.
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