A tropical low moving north across land towards the Northern Territory coast lashed Darwin this week, before developing into a Category 1 cyclone over the Beagle Gulf on Wednesday.
Tropical Cyclone Carlos caused extensive damage to roads and powerlines, forcing the indefinite closure of schools, courts, pubs, tourism attractions, the NT Parliament and Darwin Airport.
Despite a number of homes in low-lying suburbs of Darwin being inundated by water at high tide early Wednesday evening, the NT Counter Disaster Council decided to keep emergency cyclone shelters closed until further notice.
The Council will meet again at 9am (CST) on Thursday to obtain a briefing from the Bureau of Meteorology and reassess the threat posed by Cyclone Carlos.
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Late Wednesday evening the NT Department of Health (DoH) issued a statement warning people to avoid swollen creeks and flood waters.
"The simple message is to treat all floodwaters as potentially contaminated, particularly with sewage and other potential dangers, such as sharp objects, submerged holes and various hazards", a DoH spokesman said in a statement.
"In recent flood situations in other states we have seen significant injuries, even death, resulting from people venturing into floodwaters, and we don't want anything like that to happen in the NT.
"All people, especially children, should keep away from floodwaters and avoid all unnecessary contact with mud.
"If adults must enter floodwaters, wear solid shoes, preferably gum boots, not thongs or bare feet, and check the depth and current with a stick."
A number of suburban streets were declared impassible on Wednesday, as rising creeks caused the closure of a number of major roads across the Kakadu region.
Cyclone Carlos continues to hover over the Darwin coast, and is expected to track southwest on Thursday.
