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A tropical low developed over the Top End during the Christmas period, and was slow moving over the eastern Top End by New Year's Eve. By the 1st of January 2008, the low began to move westward across the base of the Top End, and moved out into the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf on the evening of 2 January. At 11am CST 3 January a Tropical Cyclone Warning was declared for coastal areas from Mitchell Plateau in WA to Daly River Mouth in the NT, and a Watch was declared for coastal areas from Daly River Mouth to Goulburn Island, including Darwin.
At 8am CST 4 January Darwin was included in the Tropical Cyclone Warning, and by 11am the low had intensified to become Tropical Cyclone Helen. At this stage the cyclone was located 380km west southwest of Darwin and was beginning to move towards the northeast.
By the afternoon of 4 January, Tropical Cyclone Helen was tracking steadily east towards the Daly River Mouth region and was intensifying. Tropical Cyclone Helen reached category 2 intensity approximately 3 hours prior to making landfall at Channel Point at around 10pm 4 January.
Following landfall, Tropical Cyclone Helen was downgraded to a tropical low at 8am CST 5 January, when the system was about 100km south southeast of Darwin and was moving east at 15km/h.
The low continued to track east into the Gulf of Carpentaria, but failed to redevelop into a Tropical Cyclone before crossing the coast of Cape York Peninsula near Cape Keerweer, in the early hours of the morning on 7 January.
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The maximum recorded wind gust was 120 km/h at Charles Point Lighthouse, while Darwin experienced a maximum wind gust of 102 km/h at about 2am CST 5 January. Winds in Darwin were enough to uproot or snap many trees. There were a few houses that suffered damage from trees falling on them. Powerlines also came down when trees fell across them. Approximately 15,000 homes lost power on Friday night, and there was widespread communications disruption. This is the first time that Darwin has experienced category 1 or more strength winds since Tropical Cyclone Gretel passed near to Darwin in April 1985.
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Widespread 100-200mm rainfall totals over the weekend of 4-6 January caused some rivers across the western Top End to rise. The Adelaide River at Adelaide River Township reached major flood level during the afternoon of Saturday 5 January. Similarly, the Waterhouse River at the community of Beswick to the east of Katherine was at and near major flood level for most of Sunday and into Monday. The Katherine River at Nitmiluk Centre reached minor flood level on the afternoon of Sunday 6 January.
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Tides along the west coast of the Top End were neap on the evening that TC Helen made landfall, with tide levels remaining several metres below Highest Astronomical Tide level. This largely contributed to the lack of storm surge damage to coastal areas.
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***All information relating to intensity and track is preliminary information based on operational estimates and subject to change following post analysis.***
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