Record rainfall cuts off communities in Arnhem Land
Record rainfall in April turned roads in East Arnhem Land into impassable rivers and cut off more than 550 people. Within 48 hours, MAF flew over 1,100 kg of food into the affected region.
Some homelands were in a critical situation. The floods had made the roads impassable. “Many were risking their lives to fetch supplies and food,” reported Glenda Abraham, CEO of the Laynhapuy Homelands Aboriginal Corporation, which serves some of the most remote areas in East Arnhem Land.
Flooded roads remained impassable for heavy vehicles for several weeks. Without trucks, neither fuel nor essential goods could be transported. Where generator fuel ran out, vital infrastructure – refrigeration for food, medical equipment, communications – was quickly affected.
In this situation, MAF flights were the only link to the outside world. MAF pilot James Gullett, who flew into the cut-off community of Dhalinybuy, described the moment he landed with an aircraft full of supplies: “At first nobody came. When I called out that there was food on board, 20 people suddenly appeared. Their gratitude was overwhelming.”
Even for experienced pilots the conditions were extreme: waterlogged airstrips, access roads washed away. “In some places there had been no food for weeks,” James reported.
MAF’s programme director for Arnhem Land, Ben Brown, summed it up: “There is literally no other way of getting these vital goods to the people – other than by air.”
