Storms 'swirling like a tornado' leave trail of destruction in parts of NT

Key points

• Severe storms with winds of nearly 100km/h tore roofs from houses and damaged parts of Alice Springs on Monday afternoon. Repairs to the Double Tree Hilton are estimated to cost more than half a million dollars.
• Alice Springs cafe The Roastery discarded thousands of dollars of food after widespread power outages. At Undoolya Station, about 20 kilometres east of town, owner Ben Hayes described the storm as swirling like a tornado, with a historic storeroom roof torn off.
• Hailstones the size of golf balls fell at Lyndavale Station near the South Australian border.