Salisbury family home damaged as wild weather prompts more than 300 SES call-outs

Devastating floodwaters left a trail of destruction through Mat Ginever’s Salisbury home, as experts warn South Australians to brace for more wild weather.

Residents are counting the cost after a tornado ripped through the northern suburbs, with more than 200 reports of weather damage overnight on the “wettest May day since 2008”.

A “small, brief tornado” hit Salisbury and some surrounding suburbs this morning, with the State Emergency Service (SES) receiving an average of one call every minute between 5am and 9am.

Salisbury resident Mat Ginever said water was up to his thighs when the rain peaked, damaging priceless photo albums and forcing his four young children out of the house.

Mr Ginever woke at 5am to “disaster” as water poured into his home.

“I opened the roller door and the whole street was flooded, it just kept rising and rising,” Mr Ginever told The Advertiser.

He waded across the road in a desperate bid to sandbag the property but said the flood was too strong.

Mat Ginever had water flood through his Salisbury home at 5am this morning after a storm downpour. Picture: Keryn Stevens

“We’ve always known a bit of flooding could come through but nothing like this … I was up to my thighs wading through water,” Mr Ginever said.

The Salisbury father said he and his wife agreed their four children, all under six years old, should stay at their grandparents’ house as they began the long task of cleaning up.

“It’s the middle of winter and it’s freezing cold so I told my wife just to keep them at mum and dad’s so they could stay warm, dry and fed,” Mr Ginever said.

“It just disrupts your whole life. The kids couldn’t go to school, their belongings have been damaged – they’ve just been uprooted.

“I never thought it would happen to us here like this. It was an extraordinary event and not one I’d like to go through again.”

Salisbury resident David Taylor surveying the damage after the ‘tornado’. Picture: Keryn Stevens

David Taylor, 57, was shocked when he found a tree had crashed through his shed on the back of his property.

“The tree is from the street next to mine, but it crashed straight through the roof of my shed and took out the power lines,” he said.

“I was asleep in bed and I started hearing this loud noise, which we later found out was the tree out the front breaking.

“Thankfully we just use the shed as storage. We haven’t been able to get inside just yet to assess what it looks like, but I don’t think it’s going to be good”.

Nishu Butel woke to water gushing into her home after a 20m gum tree fell on to her roof at 5am.

“Water was coming through the roof so fast and was coming all the way up to the kitchen,‘’ the 27-year-old said.

“The SES guys got here very early and have been great at helping clear everything away. But there is still a very large hole in the roof and the solar panels are very damaged.

“I am just happy that it didn‘t hit my car, because it was so close.”

Picture showing storm damage after tornado ripped through Salisbury on May 30. Picture: Nishu Butel

Trail of destruction

Over 100 SES volunteers responded to more than 300 jobs across the state after intense rainfall and destructive winds flooded roads, brought down powerlines and trees and caused significant damage to both residential and commercial buildings.

But emergency efforts were hampered by large quantities of debris blocking access to roads.

Nine unexpected power outages were also reported across metropolitan and regional areas throughout the morning due to the downpour and fallen trees.

More than 1300 customers have been affected by an outage which stretches from Brahma Lodge to Para Hills West.

Full restoration of power was not expected to be completed till 5pm Monday afternoon.

The Bureau of Metrology (BOM) has called the past 24 hours as the “wettest May day since 2008”.

Trees collapsed in wild winds at Sherwood Ave, Salisbury East. Picture: Keryn Stevens

“We’ve been called to a particular address and then found that we’ve had to clear the road to even get to that address,” state duty officer Robert Charlton said.

The mini tornado that spun through Salisbury carried destructive gusts over 125km an hour and lasted 5-10 minutes, according to Jonathan Fischer, senior forecaster from Bureau of Meteorology .

Mr Fischer said that BOM recorded rainfall over 50mm and flash flooding across the state, with the highest rainfall at Salisbury which scored 76mm.

“We’ve seen damaging gusts at around that 90km/h mark at several locations across the state,” Mr Fischer said.

Mr Fischer warned residents to brace for more severe weather through Tuesday, with a number of warnings active for parts of the state.

“People need to be prepared for these cold and blustery conditions to continue. We’ve also got further showers and even some small hail potentially coming up as we move through Tuesday,” he said.