The Alice Springs community spirit has shone through in the wake of a devastating storm, with organisations and individuals coming to the rescue with hot food, utes and chainsaws in tow.
It was estimated more than 4,000 homes temporarily lost power after thousands of trees were uprooted and powerlines downed early Saturday evening, in what the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) described as a "violent but brief" micro-burst weather event.
As daylight revealed the extent of the damage to properties across the western and southern suburbs, Dingo Cubs Rugby Club was among a host of organisations that stepped up to lend a hand.
"We consider ourselves a community group that also gets to play rugby for six months of the year," club coach and life member Aaron Blacker said.
"A couple of the boys put a post up on Facebook ... saying we've got some lads that are willing to grab a chainsaw and a ute and head out if you need it.
"Immediately our inbox started lighting up."
Mr Blacker said the group focused on the jobs they could safely assist with, tapping into a range of skills at hand.
"We're pretty fortunate in the club," he said.
"We've got some electricians and some carpenters and concreters and truck drivers, so we're a pretty diverse bunch of lads."
The storm's strength was evident by the damage it left in its wake, which Mr Blacker described.
"It's amazing the damage we saw, from fences and carports, to halves of houses and, in some places, just footpaths being covered [in debris]," he said.
"So we cut up what we could so that kids could get to school the next morning."
With power cut, hundreds were left without a functioning fridge or oven for more than 36 hours.
Electricity has since been restored to most homes.
Meals on wheels
For the Sikh community in Alice Springs, the storm coincided with Gurpurab, a sacred festival.
Community leader Gurbhej Singh said he and others cooked and delivered hundreds of meals for people in need all day.
"We started [in the] morning around 8 o'clock and finished up there around 4 o'clock," he said.
"Everywhere, we always try to deliver [and] serve the community at our best.
"That's exactly the same as we are doing in a small town, even though we don't have a big community."
Mr Singh said Sikh community members also hit the streets on the night of the storm to cut down trees and remove green waste in affected areas.
"It was a little bit tough, but we got through it and we supported as much as we could do," he said.
More storms likely this week
Thunderstorms are common in Central Australia.
Senior forecaster Sally Cutter said storms like the one seen on Saturday formed "very quickly".
"They can drop their load very quickly, producing damaging wind gusts," she said.
"They can also form very close to town, which is similar to what this one did.
"You don't actually know there's a storm there before the storm actually moves through and causes the issue."
Ms Cutter says there is a possibility of rain and more damaging winds as soon as this weekend.
"By the time we get to the end of the week ... we could see a repeat," she said.
"With good tropical moisture, really humid atmosphere, we've also got another front coming through and that's just going to dump a lot of that rain and potentially wind."
Ms Cutter encouraged residents to keep their yards tidy and secure loose objects in preparation for a storm, as well as to identify a safe place to shelter.
