In the Kimberley, the wet season hits thick and fast. Come summer, humidity rises, rain falls and the rivers swell. It happens like clockwork. When the clouds roll around – as they do every year – locals know to stock up on food and put new batteries in their torches, to brace for when the roads to town inevitably get cut and for the possibility of the power going out.
As the wet set in at the end of 2022, everyone thought they were ready. They’d made it through their wettest November on record, but nothing could have prepared them for what was to come.
Natalie Davey, from the Darlngunaya community on the outskirts of Fitzroy Crossing, recalls the exact moment she knew this wasn’t an ordinary flood.
“The water was surrounding my house, but the way the water was moving was unusual. I noticed there were rips. We don’t get rips on land.”
Memories of the flood are burned into Natalie’s mind: The wallabies desperately seeking refuge on her vehicle, the waves coming over the verandah, the fear.
Come morning, as the waters continued to rise, Natalie knew she had to get out.
“I tried to call for an evacuation, but nobody answered,” she says, eyes wide at the memory. “So, I called our local Rangers and asked if they were doing rescues, and they sent a boat. They’d been doing evacuations all night and the day before. If they weren’t doing that, we would have lost people for sure.”
Natalie’s neighbour Koharna Ross stayed in her community for as long as she could. She watched as
