The Treager MP and leader of Katter’s Australian Party says damage costing hundreds of millions of dollars to repair has been caused to homes, businesses, cattle stations, roads and ports in his electorate after drenching, late monsoon rains left a vast inland sea covering the region.

Queensland Recovery Authority chief executive Jake Elwood has arrived in Mount Isa to tour recovery efforts and emergency fodder drops to standard stock have begun.

It’s still unsafe for many people who were evacuated by helicopter from Burketown to return to their homes with police telling those who stayed behind to avoid floodwaters after crocodile sightings.

The state government is offering grants of up to $180 for individuals or $900 for families, but Katter said that amount was “almost an insult” for people who’d lost everything.

“We’re used to looking after ourselves in the Gulf, and if the government’s not gonna look after us we’ll have after ourselves,” Mr Katter told reporters on Wednesday.

“It’s a shame it’s come to that but people are crying out for help up there. There’s a lot of mental distress at the moment because you’ve lost everything and 180 bucks is not even gonna buy groceries for the week.”

Flood repairs to the Barkly Hwy, the main sealed road link between Queensland and the Northern Territory, will take at least a week and scores of dirt and gravel roads that link cattle stations to the outside world are still underwater.

Katter said some roads could be closed for another seven weeks which will hamper the recovery, cattle producers and the fishing industry, which has had a bumper prawn harvest that it can’t get to the market.

“There’s some very big problems; you can’t get groceries on shelves in Mount Isa at the moment, we’re cut off,” he said.

Federal Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt said the army was available if necessary, but said the state has turned down the offer.

Queensland Agriculture Minister Mark Furner plans to visit the northwest next week, but Katter urged him and a federal government minister to go up sooner because locals want someone on the ground to “say: we care”.

“A strong breeze blows through Brisbane or Sydney and they’ll be out with the raincoats and … you’ll see the premiers and prime ministers in raincoats doing their media coverage, but here we are in the Gulf by virtue of our geographic isolation we’ve had no coverage,” he said.

“It’s very expensive for media to get out there; that means it’s doubly important to have someone from the government up there on the ground. We’re crying out for it.”