A wild storm bringing fierce winds and heavy downpour swept through central Darwin and Palmerston late Monday afternoon causing havoc for commuters.
Winds up to 80 kilometres per hour brought down trees, took out powerlines and ripped the roof off a building leaving debris scattered across Frances Bay Drive, near the Duck Pond.
Several people were stranded on their way home from work, with police restricting access to the area, as Power and Water workers fixed the broken lines.
"I just finished work and walked down the hill to see this. It's very frustrating on a Monday," resident Jasmine Woollard said.
"The power lines are right in front of my car so I'm a little worried, I need my car to get to work."
Forty millimetres of rain was recorded in the heavy, but brief system, that hit about 4:00pm.
The Bureau of Meteorology recorded 38mm of rainfall at Stokes Hill Wharf while 35mm was recorded at Darwin Airport.
Storm chaser Willoughby Owen said the recent hot and humid conditions were just right for a big system to form.
"All the conditions were in place for severe weather, there was big instability, it was just perfect," he said.
"I was at Stokes Hill Wharf and the storm was coming in from the north-east, and it was just very, very severe."
Along with the rain, temperatures plummeted across Darwin. The apparent temperature dropped 20 degrees Celsius, from 36C, to just 16C in about an hour.
Several suburbs across Darwin were left without power for several hours while repairs took place.
