page_title: Fitzroy River (Western Australia)
section_title: Flooding
hierarchical_section_title: Fitzroy River (Western Australia) / Flooding
caption_attribution_description: This is an image of Alexander Island in the Fitzroy River, Western Australia.
context_page_description: The Fitzroy River, also known to the local Aboriginal people as Raparapa, is located in the West Kimberley region of Western Australia. It has 20 tributaries and its catchment area occupies an area of 93,829 square kilometres, within the Canning Basin and the Timor Sea drainage division.
  It often floods extensively during the wet season, and is known for its habitat for the critically endangered sawfish.
context_section_description: Extensive flooding during the wet season created a need for an adequate crossing. It was because of this that the town of Fitzroy Crossing was founded.
  Flooding occurred along the river six times from 1892 to 1903. The 1903 flood washed away telegraph lines and "great numbers of cattle and sheep were drowned", with bodies of animals later found hanging in trees. The heavy rains experienced in the area were the remnants of a cyclone.
  In 1935, the Fitzroy got its first bridge – a low-level concrete structure, which was built up into a wider structure in 1958. This bridge could be closed for several months at a time during the wet weather and travellers were then forced to use a flying fox, which operated about 200 metres south of the crossing. When a new bridge was erected in 1974, the focus of the town grew away from its original site. The current town of Fitzroy Crossing is one of the fastest growing in the Kimberley region. Over 80% of its population consists of Aboriginals.
  The river flooded after heavy rain events in 1949 and 1954. The 1954 event came immediately after a drought and the swollen river washed away stock from both Noonkanbah and Liveringa Station. At the height of the flood the river level was 10 feet (3 m) above the low level crossing. The mouth of the river was estimated at being over 7 miles (11 km) wide as it discharged the floodwaters.
  Record floods occurred in 1983, 1986 and 2002 with approximately 13 metres of water over the old concrete crossing. The flow rate down the 15 km-wide flood plain at Fitzroy Crossing was estimated to be 30,000 cubic metres per second. In flood, it is probably the largest river in Australia.
caption: Alexander Island in the Fitzroy River
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