Staff evacuated, calls for ADF assistance after Cyclone Fina wrecks Tiwi College
Tiwi College staff bunkered down in shelters during Cyclone Fina, but were evacuated a few days later. (Supplied: Tiwi College)
In short:
Dozens of Tiwi College staff members were evacuated from the remote boarding school on Melville Island on Monday following destruction caused by Ex-Tropical Cyclone Fina.
Fallen trees from the category three system caused significant damage to the school's buildings and water tanks, compromising access to safe drinking water.
What's next?
College staff are now calling for the Australian Defence Force to assist with the clean-up, which they say would take months to do alone.
Staff have been evacuated from a remote boarding school on the Tiwi Islands, and students may not be able to return to classrooms this year, after Ex-Tropical Cyclone Fina tore through the region with devastating force on Saturday night.
Ceilings have fallen in, windows have been smashed and flooded boarding houses are now uninhabitable — leaving Tiwi College reduced to wreckage and a rebuild that could take months.
"It's horrendous, it's not safe,"principal James Faraone said.
Darwin escaped the worst of Cyclone Fina when the category three system passed the Northern Territory capital on Saturday, but the Tiwi Islands were much harder hit.
No injuries were reported but the storm left trees and powerlines down across the Top End, with Wurrumiyanga on Bathurst Island the closest town to the eye of the cyclone.
Ex-Tropical Cyclone Fina left classrooms at Tiwi College unusable after it passed the Tiwi Islands on Saturday. (Supplied: Tiwi College)
The destruction at Tiwi College, which the principal estimates could cost up to $500,000 to repair, has prompted the school to call for the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to assist with disaster relief efforts.
"We need a crew of people to come and help chop trees," he said.
"People who are equipped, people who know what they're doing, people who've got equipment.
"We're not skilled arborists … we can't do it on our own."
The boarding school's roughly 70 students were sent home in the days before Cyclone Fina passed close to the Tiwi Islands, leaving staff to hunker down through the night.
Loading...Mr Faraone said the school's water tanks were also smashed, meaning staff would have little access to safe drinking water.
With the roads in and out of the isolated school still blocked by fallen trees on Monday, 20 staff members were airlifted to Darwin and dozens more sent home to their families on the Tiwi Islands.
Loading...Association of Independent Schools NT executive director Cheryl Salter said there was now "nothing being sent out to students to keep their education happening".
"There are rangers that are volunteering, coming out from the communities and clearing the roads and doing their best, but it's going to take some time to make those roads passable," she said.
Toppled trees broke water tanks and minimised access to safe drinking water. (Supplied: Tiwi College)
"Any sort of emergency service or army support [is needed] because what they do need out at Tiwi College is some manpower to get out there and help with the clean-up.
"It would take some time for the staff who are out there to clean up the damage from Cyclone Fina alone."
Staff members left 'in limbo'
Daniella de Koster-Hill, who was among the staff evacuated to Darwin, described flying out of the boarding school grounds as a "relief".
"There are some people who haven't slept since Friday because of what's happened," she said.
"It's been really stressful.
"Everyone was quite glad to be evacuated, it was definitely the right choice because we could not function out there with the way that the water is at the moment.
Staff members' homes were also damaged in the cyclone. (Supplied: Tiwi College)
"It caused an issue with hygiene and people showering and being able to flush our toilets, we weren't able to do any of that.
"Today was the first time that I was able to have a shower since Friday morning."
Ms de Koster-Hill said staff were now worried about whether the school would re-open before the end of the year.
"We're kind of in a limbo, we don't know how long we're going to be here for," she said.
Federal Member for Solomon, Luke Gosling, said requests for support were coordinated through the NT Emergecy Service, "who are aware of the situation at Tiwi College".
"They will liaise with Defence and make a formal request should ADF assistance be required as part of clean-up efforts," he said.
Northern Region Recovery Coordinator Tyler Thurston said his staff had spoken with Mr Faraone on Sunday and Monday and were "working with the local resources to open up the community".
"We are doing everything we can to support the region including helicopter assessments around public infrastructure, and we're sending an arborist to the Tiwis to identify high-risk trees around public buildings," he said.