Inside the Northern Territory’s brutal evacuation shelters

She paces the sideline of the basketball court beneath the absinthe green glow of the scoreboard, her youngest slung over her shoulder. It’s 10.35pm and there is no way this baby is going to sleep. He is mesmerised by the nearly 300 people crammed into the evacuation shelter on Katherine’s east, as ex-tropical cyclone Narelle threatens to bring heavy rainfall and strong winds to the Top End. Shoulder-to-shoulder camping stretchers line the multipurpose high-school gym.