Between 10 -14 March 2011, the central and eastern Kimberley regions of Western Australia experienced extremely heavy rainfall, with more than 700 mm falling during the month over the Kimberley Plateau, caused by an active monsoon trough. A further slow moving tropical low caused extensive flood damage to infrastructure across the Fitzroy, Ord and Pentecost River catchments areas.

A number of towns in the Kimberley region broke their highest March rainfall records including Warmun, Yulmbu and Gibb River.

In the east Kimberley town of Warmun up to 500 people were evacuated when the town's 76 houses were either destroyed or deemed uninhabitable through flood inundation. Within days more than 290 members of the Warmun community were evacuated to the Ord Stage II Camp (Garrjang) in Kununurra.

The Western Australian state government immediately pledged the initial sum of $500,000 to contribute toward the rebuilding of the town. The state government further contributed $15 million to construct a 200 bed temporary accommodation for the community. The federal government committed to reimburse 50 per cent of the cost through the National Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements. 

The Department of Housing allocated $9.5 million to repair the damaged roads and create new roads to the newly built replacement homes. The town also received more than $8 million from the Federal Government to help with recovery. The funding would be provided over two years under the Community Development Employment Projects program. Funds were allocated towards projects to enhance the economic and social development of the community, such as rebuilding and creating opportunities for locals to develop work skills to contribute to their community.