Australia Weather News

A severe thunderstorm has brought down trees and cut power for several hours in Alice Springs.

Residents across town and surrounding areas, including Santa Teresa, were without power for hours before it was restored late last night.

Winds reached 115 kilometres per hour at Alice Springs airport and further north, near Ti Tree, the strongest winds of 137kph were recorded about 7:30pm.

Storm 'quite fierce'

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster for the Northern Territory Rebecca Patrick said wind gusts were "quite fierce", causing trees to come down across roads and some structures in Alice Springs.

"[It was] a squall line thunderstorm, which is basically a line of storms that moves through quite quickly," Ms Patrick said.

While residents reported intense rainfall, Ms Patrick said the fast-moving storm did not bring large rainfall totals.

"The highest in our gauges was upper Bond Springs with 34 millimetres, but broadly seeing totals of about 15 to 25mm around the Alice Springs area," she said.

Ms Patrick said the storm activity had moved north-east, with some thunderstorms expected around the Barkly district today.

'It was scary' at Rainbow Valley

Tourists Neil Franklin and his wife were staying at Rainbow Valley about 100 kilometres south of Alice Springs when the storm struck.

"[At about] half past four in the afternoon, we could see in the background [the sky] really got black," Mr Franklin said.

"The clouds and the storm came with a vengeance and about five o'clock … wow, it was scary, it really was.

"We're in a high campervan, four-wheel-drive truck, which is high and luckily we were nose into the wind, but we were rocking and a rolling, [it was] very scary."

Mr Franklin said the rain came down fast and hard, but cleared fairly quickly.

"It was a lake outside the truck where we're camped, and this morning, we're just looking over out to the Rainbow Valley claypan, and it's filled with water, as in the amount of water that came down in that short time," he said.

Calls for help 

NT Emergency Services (NTES) southern division manager Ian Carlton said his team responded to about 25 requests for assistance, mostly in the Mount John suburb of Alice Springs. 

Mr Carlton said the storm was "intense" and one of the worst he had seen in Alice Springs in the past five years. 

NTES were supported by the Alice Springs Volunteer Bushfire Brigade.

Captain Jen Hamilton said when she saw the green in the clouds, she knew there would be hail. 

"When the cloud were coming in, it was like a rolling tsunami coming across the ranges," Ms Hamilton said. 

Mr Carlton thanked all agencies and people involved in the clean-up efforts.