A River in (a Short) Time

I never thought to take a photo of the Todd River that goes through town because it's not there. People talk about "the river," but it's just a broad, flatter, sandier place than the rest of the flat, sandy place. It is a dry river bed and an area known for muggings, fights and a place you don't go near at night.

Then, it started raining. Really raining. Like, wake-you-up-at-night kind of raining. Seems there was a cyclone (hurricane) at the top end near Darwin and it came down on us as rain. The river came in too. The front of it came like someone draining their pool next door. You could see the water coming into town, down the river bed. Kids were there, running in front of it.
The newspaper took pictures. Everyone went to see. That was Wednesday.

As the rain continued into the third day, the river grew and people had fun in it. Knowing the trash and waste washing around in it, most locals stayed out. That was Friday morning.
After four days of rain feeding the flow from the top end, it was a torrent. It was a huge, raging, coffee with lots of cream-colored massive thing. It buried roads by a metre. It drowned two men. That was Saturday.

The rain petered out late Saturday and gave up on Sunday. Monday, I went to take a picture of the sight and it was gone.

They say this was the highest it's been since the 80's. Some outlying roads were still closed a week later. Backhoes pushed the silty sand back off the causeways - roads that go across the riverbed.

The trees and shrubs are having a burst of new growth; some grew several inches in just a couple weeks. We may see some annual flowers blooming in another couple weeks.
Now, where does the river flow to? The answer is - away. From here, it flows south (Why south? Don't know.) toward the Simpson Desert where what's left of it soaks into the sand.