100 homes still without power after Alice Springs hit by supercell storm
About 5500 properties lost power in an intense storm that ripped through impacted Alice Springs on Thursday afternoon. See pictures of the damage.
Alice Springs
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One hundred Alice Springs households remain without power after a short but wild storm, which included hail and high winds, swept through the town leaving 4000 without power on Thursday afternoon.
Despite the majority of customers having their power restored overnight by the Northern Territory’s Power and Water crews, some homes in Araluen, Bradshaw, Gillen and South Gap remain powerless.
Power and Water crews are still assessing the damage caused by the storm which at its height left 5500 customers without power due to fallen trees and debris damaging power lines.
Power lines were down in Bromley, Flynn, Bloomfield, Barclay, Ewart, Ashwin, Parke, Standley, Mueller, Lindsay and Lackman streets across town as well as on the Stuart Highway at Kilgariff and Karnte Rd, Arumbera.
A Power and Water spokesperson said the safety of the community and its crews was the priority.
“Our crews are assessing the damage and will systematically and progressively repair the power network when it is safe to do so,” the spokesperson said.
“Powerlines are dangerous. Always assume they are live and stay away from any fallen powerlines, including service connection lines within your property.”
Power and Water advised anyone with damage to their property to visit the powerwater.com.au site to find out what to do and those with outages are encouraged to report incidents through the provider’s customer centre on 1800 245 090, via the Power and Water app or at the website’s ‘report an outage’ section.
Posts on the Action for Alice 2020 Facebook page show trees ripped from the ground across the town, palm trees on fire after being struck by lightning, damage to local infrastructure and at least one home that had lost its roof.
The Bureau of Meteorology reported wind gusts of 113km/hr at the Alice Springs Airport from 4.02pm to 4.08pm, which dropped back to 93km/hr at 4.14pm and into the 40km/hr range by 4.30pm.
Wildcare Alice Springs said it had received many calls about injured and displaced birds in the wake of the storm.
“If you have any injured or displaced birds, please place them in a cardboard box with some small air holes, keep them in a quiet dark place until morning and take them to the vets for attention. Once wildlife has been assessed the vets will contact us,” the group wrote on Facebook.
Friday was expected to bring better weather for the Alice Springs area, with the BOM forecasting a mostly sunny day with the only chance of another thunderstorm in the early morning.
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