Roofs peeled off, power outages as squall passes through parts of the Top End

STRONG wind gusts of at least 85kmh peeled roofs off buildings and caused power outages in numerous suburbs when a squall line passed through Katherine and the Darwin rural area

A building with its roof peeled off by the squall line that hit Katherine yesterday afternoon. Picture: Supplied

STRONG wind gusts of at least 85kmh peeled roofs off buildings and caused power outages in numerous suburbs when a squall line passed through Katherine and the Darwin rural area Thursday afternoon and evening.

Katherine resident Ruth, who did not want to provide her surname, said she had been working from home when she heard what sounded like heavy rain outside and got up to check.

“It wasn’t rain, it was just dust – the sky was orange with dust,” she said.

“There were extremely strong winds. My bamboo fence had been knocked over and my gate which had bricks in front of it had been blown over.”

“I drive into town when it calmed down … but all the power at Woolworths had been out for an hour, and everyone was in the streets.

“When I drove back around I could see the roof peeled off a two-storey business building – the whole thing was just peeled like an orange peel.”

MORE TOP NEWS

NT records six new coronavirus cases, all patients in quarantine at Howard Springs

NT government department CEOs put on notice to deliver on TERC report recommendations

New police pup Kobe ready to hit the NT’s streets to sniff out drugs

Ruth said the winds had also brought down tree branches and knocked over bins all over town.

“It was so extreme, it was shocking,” she said.

The wild weather caused power outages in parts of Katherine and the rural area, but electricity has since been restored everywhere except for several streets in Katherine, which Power and Water expects to have back online shortly.

Bureau of Meteorology, senior duty forecaster Sally Cutter said a squall line which extended from the north coast to Daly Waters moved across the Top End, and had passed through Katherine about 3.30pm before hitting the rural area.

“At Tindal Airport it didn’t produce much rain but we got an 85 km/h gust at about 3:30pm,” she said.

OFFER EXTENDED: Amazing NT News subscription offer: Read everything for $1

“90 km/h gust is considered a severe gust, so there is the potential that along the line there were significant gusts that breached the severe category.”