Man in high-vis sits on top of a FWD vehicle half submereged in flood waters, holding a dog, as a helicopter hovers next to them

The helicopter pilot said it was clear to everyone that “we couldn’t leave the dog behind”. (Supplied: NT Emergency Service, Katherine Volunteer Unit)

Emergency services are reminding Territorians not to drive in floodwaters, after a dramatic helicopter rescue saw a pair winched from a car at a creek crossing west of Katherine on Wednesday.

The rescue came as floodwaters receded in Katherine and the clean-up continued after the town’s worst flood in nearly 30 years.

On Thursday morning, water in the town was sitting at a minor flood level of 16.3 metres and falling, but many people are still cut off due to flooded roads.

Passing-by helicopter makes dramatic rescue

Katherine’s volunteer emergency services posted to social media that a passing-by helicopter pilot dropped a police officer on top of a vehicle stuck in floodwaters to rescue a stranded driver and passenger.

Posting a video of the rescue, the volunteer unit said the helicopter then went back to retrieve a German Shepherd from the car and that everyone was safe.

A street flooded by water as far as the eye can see, with a small silver car submerged in the distance.

As flood levels subside in Katherine, emergency services are reminding residents not to drive in floodwaters. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)

Helicopter pilot John Armstrong Jnr told ABC Radio Darwin getting the dog out of the vehicle was difficult.

“The [police officer] did all the hard work. I just had to drop him off and pick him up,” Mr Armstrong said.

“It took him quite a while to get the dog out of the motor car, because of course it was electric windows and so he had to take the baton out there … crawled down and stand on the side rail and smash the front window.

“At one stage, [the dog] did try to jump past him into the river and he managed to stop it but then it disappeared into the back of the car, so he had to move along and smash in the back window and it took him quite a while to wrestle the dog onto the roof.

A grainy photo of a 4wd car half-submerged in water, high-vis man crouched over dog on car roof, greenery around

The police officer who rescued the German Shepherd, had to lay on top of him to keep him still. (Supplied: NT Emergency Service, Katherine Volunteer Unit)

“He basically laid on top of the dog to hold it down while I came in to pick him and the dog up.

“Obviously, getting people into choppers is one thing but trying to convince a dog to get into a chopper, yeah that was a bit difficult.”

Power outages continue

Power and Water Corporation (PWC) have advised that 341 properties in Katherine are still without power as of Thursday morning.

PWC chief executive John Pease told ABC Radio Darwin it was primarily properties that had been flooded which remained impacted.

A wire fence bent down, with brown reeds over it, green grass all around, green shed in the background.

Power and Water Corporation say that properties still without power are mostly those which were hit by flooding. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)

Mr Pease also advised that for those properties, there is a process for how residents can get their power restored once water has receded.

“Residents will need to get an electrician to check the safety of their electrical wiring, they need to get then a certificate of compliance for electrical safety, then contact us and we’ve got teams down in Katherine who are ready to reconnect as and when it’s safe to do so,” he said.

Supporting isolated Territorians

One local, Jay Jessop, has been using his tinny to taxi stranded Territorians across swollen rivers, connecting them to much-needed supplies.

He said a “phenomenal” number of other locals also volunteered to help through what he described as “a pretty hectic time”.

Mr Jessop said the group were surprised to learn just how many people needed help, not being able to get food and water.

A man wearing sunglasses smiles as he steers a tinny through flooding.

Jay Jessop says locals are in good spirits. (ABC News)

Volunteers completed about 70 trips in one day, back and forth over the submerged Florina Road, helping people in need.

“Kids that had to go to hospital, there was medication getting sent over, a whole lot of stuff,”

Mr Jessop said.

Plenty of people were requesting beers, he said, with spirits remaining high despite wet season fatigue setting in.

A group of people moving bags of groceries out of a tinny.

Essential supplies like food and water have been ferried across floodwater to isolated locals. (ABC News: Sam Parry)

Member for Katherine Jo Hersey has been doing welfare checks on those residents being ferried over — some of whom have been isolated for almost a week — and said helicopters had been making food drops along the road.

She said earlier drops had been planned for some of the remote communities surrounding Katherine, but they were aborted until weather conditions were safe.

The BOM’s latest weather warnings can be found here.

Flood response different to 1998

Lifelong Katherine local Kelly Wood, who has taken on the affectionate nickname “the Kelly cam”, said he had been recording the floods, which are the worst on record for the region since 1998.

“The government river camera quite often isn’t working,” he said.

“So I am out and about a lot, at the river, sharing photos and information.”

He said it was his way of helping out the town where he was born and raised, pointing to other local legends like Trent de With and Brayden Worsnop who have been volunteering to support flood-affected Territorians.

After a very wet week, Mr Wood said further forecasted rains were concerning — he said water at Katherine Gorge took about 12 hours to flow into town, so he was watching the rain over Nitmiluk.

Mr Wood was in Katherine when the 1998 floods rose to unprecedented levels, and said the response to this weather event looked a bit different.

A man wearing glasses and a cap smiling, a swollen river can be seen in the background.Kelly Wood has been sharing Katherine River updates on social media. (ABC News)

“There was definitely a lot more government warnings, even on the street with big megaphones [saying] ‘evacuate, evacuate!’,” he said.

“A lot of Defence [crews were] doing a similar type of thing, there were our flood sirens that we used to have.”

Despite being a self-confessed fan of the wet weather, even Mr Wood said Katherine has seen enough of it this week.

Daly River flooding second worst on record

Meanwhile the Daly River community, also known as Nauiyu, continued to experience major flooding overnight, with the river reaching 15.62m at 6:45 this morning.

The river gauge — now restored after a communications outage — confirmed flood levels now exceeded the region’s second-worst flood in 1957.

All residents from Daly River have been evacuated and are now sheltering at Foskey Pavilion at the Darwin Showgrounds — the second time the community has been displaced due to flooding this year.

Further south, an emergency warning remains in place at the Roper and Waterhouse rivers, with Beswick residents advised to shelter indoors until given the all-clear from authorities.

The NT Emergency Service said the Waterhouse River at Beswick Bridge is currently at 8.19m and steady, with moderate flooding expected throughout today and tomorrow.

The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast more rainfall for the Top End over the coming days, which it said may lead to more river level rises.