Record rainfall in red centre drenches region as Yasi rolls on

AUSTRALIA'S red centre has turned to mud, with widespread rains smashing records and Uluru transformed into a giant outback water feature.

The rainfall on Uluru was far from record-breaking, but at Yulara, the closest weather station, 6mm was recorded between 2.05pm and midnight on Sunday, creating a spectacular display.

As the remnants of Cyclone Yasi moved west, small outback towns were drenched over the weekend, with 174mm of rain falling in the 24 hours since 9am on Sunday in the South Australian community of Ernabella, about 30km south of the Northern Territory border. Vince Rowlands, a senior forecaster for the Bureau of Meteorology, said the Ernabella station had only been collecting data for a short time, so experts were not sure if there was enough evidence to say there was record-breaking rainfall.

"We're not quite sure of the record status on that one, because there's a fairly short length of records at Ernabella," Mr Rowlands said yesterday. "We'll know in the next day or two about whether we'll call that a record."

At William Creek, near Lake Eyre, outback pilot Trevor Wright said water coming down from the town could create an inland sea.

"I think this will continue for a few days, given that all of that water up near Ernabella is coming down the creek system," Mr Wright said.

Weather bureau climatologist Darren Ray said the rainfall in the South Australian towns of Yongala, where 128mm fell from 9am Friday to 9am Saturday, and Hallett, which recorded 98mm over the same period, were the highest on record.

"There have been a number of stations that have had the highest daily rainfall records broken," Mr Ray said.

"We've also got about a dozen stations, mostly through South Australia and one in the Northern Territory, that have had the record highest daily February rainfall totals as well."

Mr Rowlands said some rainfall records had also been broken last month.

"It is quite unusual to see so many records being broken in one summer," he said.

Although Yasi is weakening, widespread rain is still falling on many towns.

In the South Australian town of Tarcoola, about 300km south of Coober Pedy, 56mm fell between 9am and 4.30pm yesterday. The Northern Territory town of Douglas River recorded 51.6mm in the same time.