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Alice Springs bracing for more storms after 'worst in 40 years'

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Cite

Ellis, V., & Brash, S. (2026, October 13). Alice Springs bracing for more storms after 'worst in 40 years'. ABC News (AU). https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-13/worst-storm-in-40-years-hits-alice-springs/107259306

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

ABC News (AU) · collected 2026-10-13 · by Victoria Ellis, Stewart Brash

Quick Summary

Alice Springs is preparing for another round of severe weather following a major storm on Monday that officials say is the worst in 40 years. The Bureau of Meteorology forecasts more rain, wind, and hail on Tuesday, with previous wind speeds reaching up to 96 kilometers per hour. As of now, about 4,000 homes are still without power while recovery efforts continue from the initial storm's damage including fallen trees and fences across various suburbs.
Written by AI on 2026-10-13, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Alice Springs, located in the Northern Territory of Australia, experienced what locals called "the worst storm in 40 years" on Monday afternoon. The Bureau of Meteorology recorded wind speeds up to 96 kilometers per hour at Alice Springs airport, ranking it as the ninth-highest October wind speed in the past 75 years.

The severe weather led to power outages affecting 4,000 homes, knocked down fences, and caused widespread damage from fallen tree branches. With clean-up efforts ongoing in areas like The Gap and Gillen, the town council's director of infrastructure, Sally O'Callaghan, stated that accessibility remains a priority.

However, residents now face another round of storms forecast for Tuesday afternoon. Ruby Cuthbertson, a duty forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology, warned about heavy rain, damaging winds, and large hail expected to impact Alice Springs, Yulara, and Ti Tree due to a south-easterly surge bringing moisture from tropical regions.

Written for “Australian Storms” on 2026-11-01, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Australian Storms
Environment · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
ABC News (AU)
Hedges 4 of 14 claims Outlet record 68/100
“The articles describe storms affecting different regions (Alice Springs in the Northern Territory and parts of Queensland) at different times.”
ABC News (AU)
Hedges 4 of 26 claims Outlet record 68/100
“Article A describes the ongoing situation and forecast of storms in Alice Springs, while Article B focuses on a resident's experience after her home was destroyed by the storm from Monday. Although related to the same general event, they describe different specific events or moments.”
ABC News (AU)
Hedges 0 of 20 claims Outlet record 68/100
“The articles describe different stages or impacts of severe weather events in Alice Springs, not the exact same incident.”
The Sydney Morning Herald
Outlet record 61/100
“Article A refers to a storm on Monday followed by another one on Tuesday, while Article B only mentions being hit by a severe storm without specifying which day.”
ABC News (AU)
Hedges 1 of 20 claims Outlet record 68/100
“The articles describe damage from two distinct storm events, with one article focusing on Monday's storms and another on Tuesday's impending threat.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
22
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 22 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
68/100
ABC News (AU)'s corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Environment
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-13 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

ABC News (AU) · 4526 article(s) · 10 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 10 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Victoria Ellis
9 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Western Arrarnta translator Maxine Malbunka said the books would get important information to parents and children, while sharing culture.
2026-10-25 · assertive framing · Books aim to keep Indigenous children safe online
🔮 "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.
🔮 Mr Grierson estimated the repairs would cost more than half a million dollars to complete.
🔮 The Bureau of Meteorology says there will be more rain, wind and hail later on Tuesday.
🔮 We will continue to keep it going." Walkabout Bore horseman Peter Kenny has been coming to the races since the early 90s and said the event was as exciting as ever. "
🔮 "We will continue to keep it going.
Also by Victoria Ellis
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 9 articles by Victoria Ellis →
Stewart Brash
7 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 "[Dad] would jovially say to his friends, 'Oh, Pat's got another function' … then he'd come back and tell us, 'Oh, I had a dinner with the King and Queen of Sweden at Uluru,'" Mr Miller said, a smile in his voice.
🔮 Mr Grierson estimated the repairs would cost more than half a million dollars to complete.
🔮 The Bureau of Meteorology says there will be more rain, wind and hail later on Tuesday.
🔮 In short: A bus service transporting passengers between remote communities and Alice Springs says NT government funding cuts could force them to halt five of their routes.
🔮 Barkly Regional Council Mayor Sid Vashist has called for a curfew for the community.
🔮 The Alice Springs Member for Braitling Joshua Burgoyne said it was "extraordinarily disappointing" to see people attack paramedics and that his government was looking at how it could better support the service and its staff.
Also by Stewart Brash
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 7 articles by Stewart Brash →

Topics

Alice Springs Power And Water The Bureau of Meteorology Yulara the Northern Territory

Subjects

Alice Springs GPE · 10× Cuthbertson PERSON · 2× Power And Water ORG · 2× Yulara GPE · 2× Alice GPE · 1× Bureau of Meteorology ORG · 1× Ruby Cuthbertson PERSON · 1× The Bureau of Meteorology ORG · 1× Ti Tree GPE · 1× the Northern Territory GPE · 1×

Narrative

Alice Springs Town Council director of infrastructure Sally O'Callaghan said there was no part of town unscathed, but council had been focusing its clean-up efforts in The Gap and Gillen. "Currently we're working through a lot of priority areas, people's access, road access and footpaths to be able to create accessibility through town," she said.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-13
🔮 The Bureau of Meteorology says there will be more rain, wind and hail later on Tuesday.
2026-10-13 · ABC News (AU)
Alice Springs bracing for more storms after 'worst in 40 years' · assertive framing

Claims (22 extracted, 0 hedged)

In short: Residents in southern parts of the Northern Territory are bracing for another thunderstorm on Tuesday, before the clean-up has even finished from a storm on Monday afternoon. asserted
up → brace → afternoon
Power is still out for 4,000 homes, fences have been knocked down and tree branches litter the streets of Alice Springs. asserted
branches → knock → Springs
The Bureau of Meteorology says there will be more rain, wind and hail later on Tuesday. asserted
Bureau → say → Tuesday
A wind-lashed Alice Springs is bracing for another storm even as residents have not yet finished clearing up downed tree branches, knocked over fences, leaking roofs and restoring power from "the worst storm in 40 years" on Monday afternoon. asserted
residents → lash → afternoon
Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Ruby Cuthbertson said wind speeds of up to 96 kilometres per hour were recorded at the Alice Springs airport on Monday afternoon — the ninth-highest October wind speed in 75 years. asserted
speeds → say → years
"A lot of that moisture has come down from the tropics and is driving a lot of those thunderstorms in the south," she said. Ms Cuthbertson said a south-easterly surge on Tuesday afternoon would cause thunderstorms over Alice Springs, Yulara and Ti Tree. " asserted
surge → come → Springs
The watch points today are for heavy rain, damaging winds and large hail,"she said. asserted
points → damage → rain
"Particularly just kind of north of Alice we've got some slow-moving potential for those storms, so if they do form there the main risk would be heavy rainfall and then around Yulara, the risk would be damaging winds if we see thunderstorms form up there." asserted
thunderstorms → get → Yulara
Ms Cuthbertson said the thunderstorms would persist later into the week, before the weather was expected to clear next week. asserted
weather → say → week
Thousands of homes without power Power And Water said electricity had been restored to 5,000 houses, but there were still about 4,000 homes without across a "widespread" area. asserted
electricity → say → area
Executive general manager of power services Belinda Small said there had been extensive damage, but extra crews from Tennant Creek, Darwin and Katherine were travelling to Alice Springs to provide support. asserted
crews → say → support
"There wasn't a lot of Alice Springs that wasn't impacted," she said. " asserted
she → be → Springs
We've got multiple bays of overhead power lines on the ground, where poles are bent and damaged, and that's a full day's work to repair. asserted
that → get → ground
"One of our senior managers in Alice Springs described it as the worst storm in 40 years that he's been there." asserted
he → describe → years
Ms Small said Power and Water was bracing for more storms and encouraged residents to be patient. asserted
Power → say → residents
Damage widespread Northern Territory Emergency Services Deputy Chief Officer Adam White said the service had had 50 requests for assistance from all suburbs of Alice Springs, mostly for trees on houses and cars and roof damage. asserted
service → say → houses
"I would ask people, if you can today, clean up any debris that's left … get it to the tip or to somewhere safe, secure it where you can, so that if we do have another storm come through, we don't have extra debris," he said. asserted
he → ask → debris
Alice Springs Town Council director of infrastructure Sally O'Callaghan said there was no part of town unscathed, but council had been focusing its clean-up efforts in The Gap and Gillen. "Currently we're working through a lot of priority areas, people's access, road access and footpaths to be able to create accessibility through town," she said. asserted
she → say → town
"We actually had quite a significant number of staff that saw the storm come through and stayed back last night, so we actually were ready to hit the ground as soon as it was safe to do so." asserted
it → have → ground
Ms O'Callaghan said the Alice Springs tip would be open as normal today, and the library and pool would open after sustaining some damage. asserted
library → say → damage
Northern Territory Police senior sergeant Paula Dooley-McDonnell encouraged residents to stay informed on road closures, weather advice and emergency information through Secure NT. asserted
McDonnell → encourage → NT
She said people should drive to the conditions, avoid flooded areas and keep away from fallen powerlines. asserted
people → say → powerlines
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