Severe thunderstorms passing through South Australia have damaged homes, left thousands without power and prevented flights from taking off at Adelaide airport.
Key points:
- Early flights were delayed from leaving Adelaide airport amid severe weather
- One part of the metro area received more than 40mm of rainfall in an hour
- Thousands of households are without power after lightning and strong winds
The airport said due to lightning strikes, it had not been safe for staff to enter the tarmac to load and refuel aircraft for take-off, meaning none of the early departures had been able to leave.
Planes began to take off again around 8:30am, and flights which had already landed and were on the tarmac were set to be cleared.
Adelaide Airport’s Dermot O’Neill thanked passengers for their patience, and advised travellers to keep in touch with their airlines.
“It will take a little bit of time to catch back up today,” he said.
“Days like today, you can see some of these delays roll through the day.”
Travellers sat and laid down on the airport floor as they waited, many anxious about connecting flights.
Lyn Dudley, on her way to London, said she had suspected delays amid the storms.
“I’d much rather be down than up in the air,” she said.
“It’s not ideal, but let’s keep our fingers crossed we make the flight.”
Weather warning remains in place
Meanwhile, thousands of households are without power after the storms and heavy rainfall overnight.
The metropolitan area recorded heavy falls, with many Adelaide residents waking up to loud thunder and scores of lightning strikes.
A severe thunderstorm warning remains in place for the Adelaide region as of Tuesday morning, flagging intense rainfall that may lead to dangerous flash flooding.
Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Simon Timke said a general severe thunderstorm warning is also in place for the Yorke Peninsula, Mid North, Riverland, and Murrayland Districts.
“It’s a busy weather morning, with plenty of showers and thunderstorms around,” Mr Timke said.
“I think they’ll continue on and off during the morning, perhaps easing late morning or in the the afternoon, and then clearing late afternoon or evening.”
Mr Timke said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if there was also small hail in some of the storms.
Most areas across Adelaide received between 25mm to 35mm of rain this morning, with Brownhill Creek recording 45.8mm in one hour to 7:02am.
The SES received a significant uptick in calls as people awoke to damage and further rain, with calls for help rising from around 10 in the early hours, to about 170 by 9am.
‘Roads are really slippery’
Andrew from Glenelg East told ABC Radio Adelaide there was water right through his house.
“We realised when the dog came running through the house and he was all wet,” he said.
“As they do, they jump up on the bed, and we thought ‘hang on, we might have a bit of an issue here’.”
SA Police Senior Constable Kate Dawson urged drivers to be careful on the roads.
“We’re asking everyone to drive to the conditions, the roads are really slippery,” she said.
“We’ve got reports of traffic lights out at Blackwood, Goodwood, Somerton Park, Elizabeth East, and there’s also reports of flooding on the road at Torrensville, Glen Osmond and Richmond.”
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