Erratic
weather patterns define the outback. Rainfall is scarce, with the arid
region surrounding Roxby Downs receiving an average of 166 millimetres
per year. However floods are not unknown in this
region, and one of the most spectacular was in March 1989 when a whopping 340
millimetres (13 inches) of rain fell in just two days!
"LIvestock
and wildlife were stranded on islands of high ground.....Andamooka
lost its entire water supply from the Chimney Hold Dam into Lake
Torrens. Airstrips were under water and roads were cut.
"The
single blokes at Roxby remember 1989. Every Friday afternoon a
testosterone-driven convoy of big-smoke pilgrims was thwarted, or
should have been, when the only road connecting Roxby with Adelaide
turned to mud."
All major
rains stimulate a remarkable series of wildlife responses, from the mass
evacuation of underground burrows by a vast range of insects and
invertebrates to masses of wildflowers and locust
plagues. Dry salt pans become deep lakes, filling with fish and
attracting thousands of waterbirds to this
desert region.
Following
the 1989 flood the region boasted six lakes, the last of which dried up
six years later. In the intervening years, Roxby Downs boasted a large
collection of speedboats, the Roxby Downs Yacht Club was formed and
water sports became the unlikely pastime of this desert dwelling
population.
