Wild weather batters large parts of the Top End with strong winds and heavy rains

MONSOONAL rains finally arrived with a vengeance across Darwin courtesy of a terrific storm overnight as large parts of the Top End were battered with strong winds and heavy rains >>

Katherine SES volunteers clear a fallen tree during last night's wild storm which battered large parts of the Top End. Picture: NTPFES

MONSOONAL rains finally arrived with a vengeance across Darwin courtesy of a terrific storm last night, with cloudy, wet cool conditions a welcome change for Territorians today.

More than 44mm of rain fell across Darwin on Thursday morning, after the first drops were felt just before midnight.

Various power outages were reported across the Top End.

An active night of storms across the #TopEnd. The northwest Top End and Elcho Island have received over 100mm of rain, with most of that falling overnight. Parts of the #NT are set to get some active weather leading into the weekend. Find forecasts at https://t.co/FG3XRwYfvz pic.twitter.com/kFrv72Rvyx

— Bureau of Meteorology, Northern Territory (@BOM_NT) January 30, 2019

More rain fell at Noonamah with 59mm registered, while Point Stuart recorded 99.6mm across the morning.

Elcho Island received more than 100mm of rain.

The rain caused havoc on the roads, however, with a number of minor incidents across the Stuart Highway a timely reminder for road users to drive to the conditions, particularly during heavy rainfall.

The wind also picked up in Darwin, reaching speeds of up to 56km/h while the temperature remained below 25C.

NT Police attended a number of crashes during the heavy weather overnight and this morning (above and below) and have reminded motorists to drive to the conditions. Pictures: NTPFES

Darwin can expect a maximum of 30C on Thursday, with rain likely to continue throughout the day.

The weather hit Katherine even harder, with a number of power outages and damaged trees reported as a result of heavy winds and the morning storms.

In a social media post, the NT Police, Fire and Emergency Services said Katherine

SES volunteers were called out to 11 jobs overnight as a result of the storms.

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“Their night kicked off with an urgent job to clear a tree trapping an ambulance in the Katherine Hospital ambulance bay,” the NTPFES said.

“The volunteers then dealt with more fallen trees and branches as well as storm damage to properties in Callistemon Road, Coolibah Cres, Donegan St, Holtze Cres, Finniss Place, and Maluka Rd.”

The five SES volunteers had cleared 10 of the 11 tasks by midnight.

@BOM_NT rain radar has no chill this morning - hope you've got your brolley #wetone #IBlessTheRains @TheNTNews pic.twitter.com/orzIWttxrn

— Will Zwar (@zwar_w) January 30, 2019

The post said the team also worked closely with Power and Water to ensure they were able to safely fixing downed power lines.

NT Emergency Services had reports of large objects blown around by wind across the Top End overnight providing a timely reminder that Territorians need to be prepared during the severe weather season.

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