Widespread damage leaves thousands without power after wild storms hit SA

The clean-up continues across South Australia after wild storms swept through the state yesterday, affecting power to nearly 100,000 customers. 

SA Power Networks said about 78,000 properties remained without power this morning and it had sought interstate field crews to assist with repairs.

There were 423,000 lightning strikes recorded yesterday along with winds of 106 kilometres per hour, according to SA Power Networks.

SA Power Networks said outages were reported right across the state, from the far west through to the eastern border with New South Wales and Victoria.

Some areas may not see power restored until Monday, and SA Power Networks’s Paul Roberts said people should plan for an extended power outage and consider staying with family or friends where necessary.

“We won’t be able to provide accurate estimates of power restoration times until crews get to the site and are able to make an assessment of the cause and the work needed to restore power,” he said.

Business owners have been assessing the damage this morning, but many have been hampered by the lack of power.

Alan Pan, a supermarket owner in Adelaide’s southern suburbs, said he would have to throw out most of the dairy and meat products at his store due to the power outage.

“Everything needs to be chucked out,” he said.

“We will have staff waiting outside the shop this morning, waiting for it to be opened and unfortunately I have to send everyone home.”

State Duty Officer Robert Charlton said the State Emergency Service (SES) had been called out to about 1,000 jobs in 24 hours.

Mr Charlton said the majority of work involved fallen trees and power lines, and volunteers hoped to clear the majority of storm damage by the end of today.

He said the Adelaide Hills and southern suburbs were the hardest hit by the storms.

“We saw quite a spread across metro and some rural areas, but predominantly they were around the southern suburbs,” he said.

The CFS have been door-knocking this morning in the Adelaide Hills to check residents’ safety after multiple properties in the area were damaged by fallen trees.

Upper Sturt resident Dotty Telford said she narrowly escaped being hit by a fallen tree.

“I was just driving up the road 30 seconds before these big trees came down,” she said.

“I just pulled into my driveway, I grabbed my groceries there and then a massive crash.”

Stewart Bishop said his B-double truck was stuck this morning due to downed powerlines on Portrush Road in Adelaide’s eastern suburbs.

He said the truck could not get through backstreets, and he was forced to wait this morning before eventually being able to turn.

“We have a heap of trucks coming up behind us and most of us are going interstate,” he said.

“… It’s going to hold up everything.”

Meanwhile, police have warned drivers to avoid areas taped-off by emergency services.

SA Police said a 54-year-old man drove through SES tape at Flinders Park yesterday and became entangled with a fallen tree and power lines.

Police attended and warned the man to remain in his car due to the live power lines caught on his vehicle.

He was safely extracted from the scene after SA Power Networks rendered the power lines safe, and was later fined by police.