Heavy rain, hail and ferocious wind speeds of 96km/h lash Alice Springs

The Bureau of Meterology says "severe thunderstorms" have brought heavy rains and damaging winds to Alice Springs. The Hilton DoubleTree is among the properties damaged, with parts of its roof collapsing in during the storm. What's next? The weather bureau says more storms are possible through the week and emergency services are urging locals to remain vigilant. Thousands of homes are without power after a surprise storm brought wind speeds of almost 100km/h to Central Australia, pulling down trees and damaging properties. According to the Bureau of Meterology (BOM), heavy rain and hail fell on Alice Springs at 3:30pm this afternoon and wind gusts of 96km/h were recorded locally at 3:44pm. "A surface trough coincides with a warm and unstable air mass in southern parts of the Territory, which has resulted in the development of severe thunderstorms," the weather bureau said. The short-lived storm cell pushed trees onto roads, powerlines and roofs. The Alice Springs Hilton DoubleTree was among the properties to suffer significant damage. In a statement released on Monday afternoon, Power and Water Corporation said "approximately 9,000 properties" had lost power "due to damage caused by a sudden storm cell". "Our crews are assessing the damage and will work to restore services as quickly as is safely possible," the statement said. "The communities of Arumbera, Burt Plain, Ilparpa, Simpson, Hermannsburg, Hugh, Namatjira and Wallace Rockhole have also been affected. "We remind people to please stay away from fallen trees and powerlines, and always assume powerlines are live." The BOM's Robert Urbaniak said Centralians were "not out of the woods yet", warning another similar storm cell was predicted for Tuesday afternoon and evening. "There's still the chance of severe thunderstorms again bringing damaging wind gusts, large hail and the chance of heavy rainfall," he said. "Unfortunately another day of it, but after that should settle down somewhat." Loading Facebook content NT Emergency Services (NTES) said it had received 33 calls for assistance by 5pm this afternoon. Adam White from NTES said Alice Springs residents would need to remain vigilant in the coming few days and urged people to keep an eye on SecureNT for updates. "I've got some reports of multiple trees down, some damage from the hail and the winds," he said. "I've just seen a couple of reports of some areas that may have experienced up to 100km/h winds, so a very, very short-lived but intense storm that came through there." It was the second storm to hit Alice Springs in less than a week. Two cells are moving east over parts of the Simpson and Lasseter deserts, according to the BOM, which are likely to persist through the early evening.