REPORTS of hail pummeling part of Katherine’s rural area continue to flood in following a large storm on November 14.
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While hundreds of mature trees were felled by winds that gusted up to 63km/h, some Katherinites also had to contend with “grape-sized” hailstones.
Shadforth Road resident Carolyn Adams told the Katherine Times the experience of hail falling in the Top End was “amazing”.
“The kids had a ball running around, collecting it all up,” she said.
EARLIER: November 16, 2015 (4.30pm)
A MAJOR clean-up effort is underway after a wild storm toppled hundreds of trees and dropped hail across Katherine on Saturday afternoon.
Officially, the November 14 storm dumped 26.2 millimetres of rain on the town and battered residents with wind gusts of up to 63km/h.
However, some Katherinites reported much stronger downpours, with hail falling around Cossack.
Jackie Slater told the Katherine Times the hail only lasted about five minutes, an occurrence Bureau of Meteorology senior climatologist Greg Browning described as “pretty unusual”.
“I would say hail is pretty unusual full stop across the Top End,” he said.
“The storms are big enough to produce hailstones, but there’s a lot of warm air and they generally melt before they make it to the ground.”
Hundreds of trees were knocked down during the storm, with Rebecca Moore and her family mourning the loss of African mahoganies that fell just metres from their residence.
“It’s so sad to see them go,” she said.
“They were beautiful, big, shady trees.”
The storms are big enough to produce hailstones, but there’s a lot of warm air and they generally melt before they make it to the ground.
- Senior climatologist Greg Browning
Mr Browning said storms of the magnitude recorded at the weekend, especially during the build-up, were renowned for their tree-felling prowess.
“That first storm of the season often gets rid of a bit of that dead wood,” he said.
“Chances are increased that the start to the wet season will be later.
“We will suggest that it will probably be … early to mid-January.”
The town’s hot springs were closed after a large tree was brought to the ground during the storm and Katherine Town Council’s works and services director, Neroli Dickens, said “areas deemed to be of higher public risk” were first on the clean-up agenda for staff.
She added that the storm had caused some damage to infrastructure around the hot springs.
“Contractors have been engaged to fell a tree within the bottom parkland area and to conduct electrical repairs to overhead aerials within the top picnic ground,” she explained.
