About 10,000 South Australian properties were without power early this morning following severe storms overnight.
Key points:
- South Australia was hit by two bands of storm activity overnight
- About 10,000 people were without power this morning
- The State Emergency Service has not received any reports of severe damage yet
The Bureau of Meteorology said about 65,000 lightning strikes were recorded in the 24 hours to 5am.
Mark Anolak from the bureau said a first band of bad weather hit the state about 9:30pm last night, followed by another between 3am and 4am.
The storm activity woke many South Australians, with people taking to social media to share their experiences of the “deafening” sounds.
Mr Anolak said rainfall varied from about 4 millimetres at Noarlunga, in Adelaide’s south, to 25 millimetres at nearby Marion, while 20 millimetres were recorded over half an hour at the airport this morning.
He said more rain was on the way.
“We’re in a bit of a clear slot now, but we can expect showers and thunderstorms to return later this morning,” he said.
The Bureau said the cold front would move into the south-east of the state this morning, generating areas of heavy rainfall.
The State Emergency Service (SES) said it had not yet received any reports of significant damage.
The SES said it had received more than 20 calls for help since midnight, including from Redwood Park, where a branch fell on parked cars.
However, it expected the number of calls to increase as people woke up to damage.
SA Power Networks also expects more reports of power outages.
Paul Roberts from the network said current outages were “widespread” and lightning strikes were likely to blame for many of the issues.
There are two large outages in the state, one affecting about 2,700 properties at Mannum and another impacting about 1,000 at Andrews Farm.
“Most of the outages are smaller outages,” he said.
Meanwhile, South Australian Human Services Minister Nat Cook has urged people sleeping rough to find shelter, with wet weather forecast for the remainder of the week.
Ms Cook said a code blue has been issued, which meant extra support services were available for people sleeping rough, including more options to find shelter.
“We would encourage people to reach out to get assistance rather than leave themselves subjected to the elements, which are going to be quite severe until Friday morning,” she said.
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