A boil water alert is in place across the Greater Darwin region because of damage to infrastructure caused by Tropical Cyclone Marcus which has weakened to a Category 1 system.

The NT Department of Health and Power and Water Corporation are urging people to drink packaged bottled water or boil water and allow it to cool before use until further advised.

More updates will be available at SecureNT: https://securent.nt.gov.au/alerts

Gales are easing around Darwin (including the city, northern suburbs and Palmerston) the Tiwi Islands and Cape Hotham as TC Marcus moves south west.

Northern Territory Emergency Services (NTES) is working through a call log of around 200 incidents across the region.

Anyone requiring Emergency Service assistance should call 132 500 or 000 in a life-threatening situation.

“We have a high number of reports of downed trees and power lines across the region,” Regional Controller Warren Jackson said.

“All power lines should be treated as live. Our team is working to asses and make safe downed wires as quickly as they can.

“In the meantime, we’d ask people to avoid downed lines and trees, which may be covering live wires.

“Fallen trees and branches are blocking a number of areas. We’re clearing debris from around Royal Darwin Hospital and the airport as a high priority.”

People are being asked to refrain from travelling around the Greater Darwin region as the assessment and clean up phase gets underway.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has updated its advice for TC Marcus. A Warning Zone is in place for Cape Hotham to Mitchell Plateau, including Darwin. A Watch zone is in place from Cockatoo Island to Mitchell Plateau.

BoM predicts TC Marcus will move off the NT coastline between Dundee Beach and Channel Point into the Timor Sea in the next few hours.

It’s forecast to re-intensify to a Category 2 system before approaching the northeast Kimberley during Sunday.

More information is available on the Bureau of Meteorology website: http://www.bom.gov.au/nt/warnings/