Fitzroy River Bridge on the Great Northern Highway Has Disintegrated Amid Unprecedented Floods

Engineers will go on a thorough assessment of the destruction caused by record floods to the major bridges along the trucking route connecting Western Australia and the Northern Territory, with concerns mounting that key infrastructure may take months, or even years, to repair. The assessment will focus on the Fitzroy River Bridge, which has collapsed after being ravaged by intense rainfall caused by ex-tropical Cyclone Ellie. The calamity has resulted in a serious logistical challenge, with detours for trucks delivering vital supplies to isolated communities adding an extra 7,400km to their journey, equivalent to driving from Paris, France to Vladivostok, Russia.

Water is slowly receding at Fitzroy Crossing, but concerns linger that it may take a considerable amount of time to fix the bridge. In the interim, Main Roads WA has suggested building a temporary bridge while the official one is rebuilt. The need for such measures is underscored by the sheer scale of the devastation, with the amount of water flowing down the Fitzroy River per day equivalent to Perth’s entire water use for 20 years.

Towns have been cut off and communities isolated in the state’s worst ever floods, with the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, describing the event as at least a one-in-100-year occurrence. The premier, who visited flood-stricken communities on Monday, noted that the road had simply “dissipated” and that major flooding along the Fitzroy River to Fitzroy Crossing is “unprecedented.” “They haven’t seen anything like this, certainly that anyone can ever recall,” Albanese said.

The prime minister acknowledged that the region is prone to remote and difficult-to-access areas, making infrastructure investment essential to restore the region’s lifeline, the Great Northern Highway. The PM emphasized that such investment is crucial to address the damage caused by the floods, saying, “It’s difficult doing infrastructure in some of these areas as well, they’re remote, they’re difficult to get into in some cases.”

In the meantime, Main Roads WA has warned against attempting to walk on bridges affected by floodwaters, describing the practice as reckless and highly dangerous. The acting manager director of Main Roads WA, Des Snook, stated that floodwaters are moving at high velocity in many places and rising rapidly, posing a significant risk to anyone who ventures into the affected areas. He urged people not to underestimate the danger posed by floodwaters and emphasized the importance of adhering to safety guidelines to avoid potentially fatal consequences.