Ex-Tropical Cyclone Lincoln forecast to bring heavy rainfall while ...

• In short: Ex-Tropical Cyclone Lincoln has weakened overnight as it tracks south-west across the Northern Territory.
• The Bureau of Meteorology predicts severe weather impacts will likely continue over northern Australia.
• What's next? A flood watch remains in place for central parts of the territory, bringing damaging wind gusts. 

Heavy rainfall and strong winds are forecast across parts of the Northern Territory this weekend as ex-Tropical Cyclone Lincoln tracks further inland, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. 

The system crossed the NT coast as a category one cyclone in the southern Gulf of Carpentaria between Port McArthur and the NT-Queensland border about 4:30pm on Friday afternoon.

It has gradually weakened below tropical cyclone intensity overnight while moving south-west toward the NT's central Barkly district on Saturday, although severe weather impacts are likely to continue.

Strong winds averaging 50 to 60kph with damaging wind gusts of up to 100kph are possible in the warning area, according to BOM's forecasting.

Heavy rainfall may also lead to flash flooding in the eastern Carpentaria and north-east Barkly districts on Saturday.

The system is then expected to move west over the NT and over into northern Western Australia in the coming days, and may reach waters west of the Kimberley by the middle of next week.

A flood watch remains in place for parts of Carpentaria coastal and central inland rivers, as well as Barkly, Tanami and Victoria River catchments. 

Rainfall across the flood watch area is forecast to increase over the weekend, with rainfall totals of 70 to 120mm expected.

NT Emergency Operations Centre incident controller Superintendent Daniel Shean said there was no indication that emergency evacuation centres would be required in affected communities.

Telstra outage fixed in Borroloola

A two-day Telstra outage affecting residents' mobile connectivity in Borroloola was resolved this morning.

Telstra's NT regional general manager Nic Danks said technicians travelled to the site by helicopter and restored 3G services at about 8am, following by 4G shortly after. 

"The issue was related to some transmission equipment which has now been replaced and reset," Mr Danks said.

"As the site is also solar powered, we also took the opportunity to recharge the batteries as overcast and stormy conditions are challenging to generate enough power to keep the site running.

"We will continue to monitor the site closely over coming days to make sure they continue working."

Borroloola resident Roz Kerr said the outage had prevented some shoppers from purchasing food using their cards at supermarkets because the EFTPOS machines were not working.

"No one's got cash so that's a little bit daunting," she said. 

Ms Kerr also said the Carpentaria Highway from the Daly Waters Hi-Way Inn to Borroloola had been closed for several days due to wet weather. 

While there was plenty of frozen food in stock, she said some shops were running low on milk, bread and fresh vegetables and meat.