Outstations and town camps struggle with damage from 'scary' storm

In short:

Houses in town camps in Alice Springs and on an outstation near Hermannsburg have been damaged in a severe storm.

Residents have described the storm as scary.

What's next?

Residents are facing many trips to the tip to clean up their properties as part of the recovery.

Central Australian residents say the poor quality of many homes in remote outstations and town camps has amplified damage after a storm whipped through southern parts of the Northern Territory last Monday.

Trees were uprooted, there were widespread power outages and roofs were ripped from homes as winds of up to 96 kilometres an hour, a two minute drive from the remote community of Hermannsburg, was significantly damaged during the storm.

The Western Arrarnta woman was in Canberra during the severe weather event, but said her children phoned her to tell her of the damage.

"They said it was a mini cyclone or hurricane … and it was a bit scary,"she said.

"Trees were pulled out from the ground, rain just falling over the houses."

Ms Malbunka said the power went out in most outstations around the region and families were struggling to feed themselves, but electricity was restored in about two days.

The health worker said existing challenges with housing in many remote outstations made the homes more vulnerable to storm and many residents in the region were "struggling".

"Maybe when we get more rain or more storms like that our houses will be flown out, because we're only living in a tin shed, and some of those brick houses aren't being renovated or looked at properly," she said.

Ms Malbunka said outstation residents would need to make many trips to the tip to clean up their properties, which would be costly due to the high price of fuel.

Town camps also damaged

A Northern Territory government spokesperson said four public housing properties were uninhabitable due to damage and there were 59 storm-related repair jobs across public housing in town, including five town camps.

The spokesperson said the government was "prioritising relocating" families in affected homes to alternative public housing while the houses were repaired.

Mpwetyerre/Abbott's Town Camp resident Caleb Doolan said his home lost power and children in the town camp were scared.

"We had to chuck everything out from the fridge," he said.

"It was hard for us."

Mr Doolan said the storm was another blow to the town camp, which was still recovering from floods earlier in the year.