Tiwi Islanders tell of 'pretty terrifying' night as Tropical Cyclone Fina battered homes
Residents in Wurrumiyanga are in high spirits as the Tiwi Islands recover from the effects of Severe Tropical Cyclone Fina. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)
In short:
Tiwi Islands residents are getting on with the clean-up after Severe Tropical Cyclone Fina, with 30 to 40 trees down over power lines after the category three storm.
Wurrumiyanga on Bathurst Island was hardest hit after the cyclone brushed the southern edge of Melville Island to the east on Saturday evening.
What's next?
Local say power has now been restored to much of the community while some outstations and a small section of town remain off grid.
While Darwin experienced the outer edge of Severe Tropical Cyclone Fina at the weekend, the eye of the storm came much closer to the Tiwi Islands.
On Monday, Wurrumiyanga residents described the intensity of the category three system.
The ABC flew over to the Tiwi Islands on Monday to see how the remote community handled the weekend's wild weather. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)
"It was like a wooing sound and a whistle," Tiwi Islands deputy mayor Mary Dunn said.
"It was pretty terrifying for some people."
John Pilakui, a Wurrumiyanga local, said he had been "really scared".
John Pilakui says the cyclone was scary for many locals, particularly for children and the elderly. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)
"The elderly people, kids as well — horrible," he said.
As Cyclone Fina tracked south-west, it brushed the southern tip of Melville Island.
Severe Tropical Cyclone Fina tracked past the Tiwi Islands as a category three system, as shown in this map from Saturday afternoon. (Supplied: BOM)
Wurrumiyanga, on Bathurst Island, was the closest town to the eye of the cyclone.
Benita Ullungura, another Wurrumiyanga resident, said it was the worst storm she had experienced.
"It was really windy and strong — the whole town was shaking,"she said.
Several properties were damaged as a result, with trees falling on roofs and fences.
Benita Ullungura says Severe Tropical Cyclone Fina was the worst storm she has ever experienced. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)
Member for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour returned home on Monday to find her old house had been badly damaged.
"Planting this tree, I didn't realise many years later what damage would happen," she said.
NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro also visited Wurrumiyanga and spoke to locals on Monday.
Marion Scrymgour returned to Wurrumiyanga to find a tree she planted years earlier upended. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)
Marion Scrymgour was joined by NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro and federal Emergency Management Minister Kristy McBain. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)
With no purpose-built cyclone shelter on the Tiwi Islands, most of the town sheltered inside a school hall during the storm.
"Luckily, the principal of the school told everyone to move to the school, because from category two it turned to category three and we knew it was a dangerous cyclone," local John Wilson said.
John Wilson lives in the remote NT community north of Darwin and says locals were lucky to have the school as a shelter. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)
On Monday, crews were working to remove trees and restore electricity to the town.
Tai Routledge said "probably about 30, maybe 40" trees had fallen over power lines.
"The cyclone's come through and absolutely blitzed all the trees,"he said.
"It pushed [trees] onto the power lines, pushed it across our power station."
Power and Water crews work to repair power outages across the Tiwi Islands after the cyclone. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)
Severe Tropical Cyclone Fina brought down power lines and damaged buildings in Wurrumiyanga on Saturday. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)
He said the entire recovery would take up to two weeks.
Tiwi Regional Council Deputy Chief Executive Heidi Dorn said that by Monday afternoon, power had been restored to most homes in Wurrumiyanga.
Several homes on the Tiwi Islands lost power, with many restored by Monday afternoon. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)
"There is one small area of the community that isn't back on because we do have a major tree down [on a power line], but the majority have it, which is very fortunate," she said.
"The other major communities [on the Tiwi Islands] have still got power — they got theirs up pretty quickly.
"We do have people out on homelands in outstations at the moment that don't have power."
At a town barbecue on Monday, Ms Scrymgour said the local community had done a good job ensuring everyone was safe.
Locals came together on Monday to connect over a community barbecue. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)
"We see the usual damage, trees down and the power lines," she said.
"But the message that we take away from this is that nobody got hurt.
"Everyone worked together to make sure that everyone had a safe shelter and people were fed."
Police officers chatting to Wurrumiyanga residents who felt the impact of Severe Tropical Cyclone Fina. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)
The community banded together to wait out the the cyclone. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)