Waste management facilities are struggling to cope with the volume of trees and branches being left at their sites since Tropical Cyclone Marcus passed over the Greater Darwin area yesterday afternoon.
People with green waste are being asked to bundle branches and leave them on their verge for collection, Northern Territory Police say
The City of Palmerston Council, City of Darwin and Litchfield Council have different arrangements in place for green waste disposal.
It’s also part of a measure to encourage motorists to stay off the roads while downed power lines are made safe and debris is removed from roads.
"The lack of electricity has had an impact on traffic lights," Regional Controller Warren Jackson said.
"We only have about half of them working across the region.
"This hasn’t been helped by the fact that someone has stolen one of the generators being used to power traffic lights."
Batchelor and Adelaide River are also affected by the power outages.
"It may take some time to restore electricity to nearly 26,000 homes affected because of the damage caused by the destructive Category 2 winds," he said.
TC Marcus also damaged pipes, prompting the Department of Health and Power and Water Corporation to issue a boil water alert, which will be in place until further notice.
"Public schools and non-essential government buildings will be closed tomorrow," Regional Controller Jackson said.
"That decision has been made because of the boil water alert, damage to buildings and power lines and the limited public transport options that will be available tomorrow.
"People should liaise with non-government schools and companies to find out if they will be open."
Anyone requiring Emergency Service assistance should call 132 500, or 000 in a life-threatening situation.
Updates will be provided by SecureNT as they become available: https://securent.nt.gov.au/
