Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA) - Ex-Tropical Cyclone Narelle
Eligibility
For individuals
To be eligible for financial assistance, residents must live in a declared Local Government Area or community and:
- have been evacuated
- experienced inundation (flooding) to their house
- received damage to their house due to cyclone winds
- isolated from essential services due to their primary place of residence (house) impacted by floods or cyclone
- unable to access essential services (e.g. shops in your community closed due to floods or cyclone).
For businesses
Small businesses and not-for-profit organisations impacted by Cyclone Narelle and associated flooding may be eligible for grants up to $10,000.
Affected communities
Disaster assistance is available for communities affected by Ex-Tropical Cyclone Narelle to support counter-disaster operations and restore essential public assets.
The table below outlines local government areas (LGAs) eligible for support. Eligibility criteria may apply.
Roper Gulf LGA | East Arnhem LGA | Groote Eylandt | Coomalie LGA | West Arnhem LGA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Immediate Relief Payments | ✓*A | ✓*A | ✓P | ✓*A | ✓A |
Re-establishment Assistance for essential household items | ✓*P | ✓*A | ✓P | ✓*A | ✓A |
Temporary Accommodation Reimbursement | ✓*P | ✓*A | ✓P | ✓*A | ✓A |
*: Roper Gulf (Numbulwar), East Arnhem (Baniyala, Gan Gan, Rurrangala Homelands), Coomalie (Adelaide River), West Arnhem (Patonga Homestead, Patonga Airstrip, Spring Peak)
A: active or underway (25% paid during evacuation if applicable, remaining funds paid in community of residence)
P: pending impact assessments
U: upcoming with dates to be advertised
C: applications closed
Assistance for individuals
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Immediate Relief Payments are a Northern Territory Government payment, jointly funded by the Australian Government.
These payments give immediate help to people who experienced financial hardship due to flood or cyclone events in March 2026.
Eligibility is based on where you live and how you were impacted. Payments are not means tested and include payments of $611 per adult and $309 per child, capped at $1,537 per family, with payments made via a pre-paid debit card.
For information about how to use your pre-paid debit card, see payment card rules PDF (204.0 KB).
Coomalie
- Applications for Adelaide River will be closed from midnight Sunday 3 May 2026.
Roper Gulf
- Applications for Numbulwar will be closed from midnight Sunday 10 May 2026.
West Arnhem
- Applications will be closed from midnight Sunday 10 May 2026.
East Arnhem
- Applications will be closed from midnight Sunday 10 May 2026.
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Emergency re-establishment assistance is also available for eligible people impacted by the Ex-Tropical Cyclone Narelle floods.
It is designed to assist people and families to re-establish their principal place of residence. A principal place of residence is the primary home that you live in.
Re-establishment assistance is for people who:
- do not earn enough money (annual household incomes apply) to fix their home damaged by a major emergency and
- do not have building or contents insurance and
- cannot return home because it is damaged or destroyed or cannot get to their home because of flooding on their property (road closures do not qualify) and
- haven’t already had costs covered by compensation, donations, or other charity help.
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For residents that were isolated from their home or who could not get to a dedicated Evacuation Centre, up to $340 per adult and $172 per child, capped at $1,160 per family is available to reimburse the cost of short-term temporary accommodation while you were unable to return home. This assistance is means tested.
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Only medically vulnerable residents evacuated from Katherine to Darwin and Palmerston, and those residents in eligible remote communities will be eligible for financial assistance.
Immediate Relief Payment (IRP)
You can apply online or in person:
- complete the online IRP form (you will need to attend a nominated collection point to collect your pre-paid debit card).
Temporary Accommodation Reimbursement (TAR)
You can apply online or in person:
- complete the online TAR form (you will need to attend a nominated collection point to collect your pre-paid debit card).
Re-establishment Assistance (RA)
You can apply online or in person:
- complete the online RA form (you will need to attend a nominated collection point to collect your pre-paid debit card).
Need help or have questions
If you are having trouble submitting your online claim, visit the Big Rivers Government Centre or call the Disaster Relief Payment Information line on 8999 2081 between 8am and 4pm on weekdays.
Assistance for small business and not-for-profit organisations
Eligible small businesses and non-profit organisations in the following areas may be able to access grants of up to $10,000 to support recovery from the direct impacts of Cyclone Narelle:
- Katherine Town Council area
- Coomalie Community Government Council area
- Litchfield Council area
- Roper Gulf Regional Council area
- Victoria Daly Regional Council area
- West Daly Regional Council area
- West Arnhem Regional Council area
- Belyuen Community Government Council area
- Wagait Shire Council area
- Greater Darwin Unincorporated Area
- Cox–Daly Unincorporated Area
- Marrakai–Douglas Daly Unincorporated Area.
The assistance includes:
- Small Business Grants – to support eligible businesses recovering from the direct impacts of Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle and associated flooding.
- Asset Assistance Grants for Non-profit organisations – to support eligible organisations where assets have been significantly damaged and there is no reasonable prospect of obtaining commercial finance.
To apply for these grants, visit Northern Territory Goverment website.