The Emergency Declaration for the Big Rivers region which has been in place since early March has now been revoked.
In its place, four new declarations are in place, covering Daly River, Palumpa, Jilkminggan and Wugularr, each covering a 3km radius of the community.
Jilkminggan residents have been living in evacuation centres in Mataranka since their community was cut off more than two weeks ago.
The community itself escaped inundation, and the repatriation has been entirely dependant on road access.
Tomorrow, 28 March 2026, Jilkminggan residents will go home via 4WD bus.
At Wugularr, 40 people continue to reside at the Wugularr School, which has been activated as an evacuation centre within the community. As the Waterhouse River continues to recede, their homes in lower camp will be assessed and repaired before they can return home.
To assist the school in resuming educational operations, alternative accommodation arrangements are now being made to support the displaced residents to stay in community.
Daly River and Palumpa remain inundated and those residents face an extended stay away from their home communities.
"Any timeline on their return is dependent on the recession of water, assessment of damage, time taken to clean up, repair or replace damaged infrastructure and restore services," Incident Controller, Supt Craig Windebank said.
"This will be a protracted process that may take months to complete."
Over the weekend, the emergency will shift from a 'response' to the 'recovery' phase, with the Department of the Chief Minister and Cabinet assuming coordination of the efforts to restore communities and get people home.
Image: Aerial view of Palumpa Community, Wednesday 25 March 2026
