Clean up across parts of South Australia hit by thunderstorms
A CLEAN-UP is underway after a freak thunderstorm wrecked cars and belted a shopping centre, classrooms and a hospital, causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage.
A CLEAN-UP is underway after a freak thunderstorm wrecked cars and belted a shopping centre, classrooms and a hospital, causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage.
A partial roof collapse from heavy rain caused flooding to four to five shops, and Coles at Mount Barker shopping centre about 5.30pm on Friday.
The shopping centre was shut immediately, with early estimates of $250,000 worth of damage.
Up to 10 classrooms and the library were flooded at Mount Barker High School after a roof collapsed.
Hospitals at Mt Barker and Tailem Bend also reported leaking rooves, while about $10,000 damage was reported at the Barnacle Bill restaurant in Mt Barker.
Large hailstones dented cars and broke windshields across the metropolitan area, as insurance companies began dealing with calls from the owners.
Almost 70,000 lightening strikes were reported across SA in the 24 hours to 9am on Saturday.
State Emergency Service state duty officer Aaron Blasch said the damage was also widespread across metropolitan Adelaide, particularly in the eastern suburbs, as well as the Riverland in areas including Waikerie, Berri and Barmera.
“Much of the damage was to skylights, which is a little more unusual than what we often deal with,” Mr Blasch said.
He said large hail stones damaged sky lights caused some homes to leak.
The SES received 300 calls for help between 4pm and 9pm on Friday. Another 10 calls were received between 9am and midnight, while another 30 people had sought help by 7.30am Saturday morning.
The thunderstorms had passed the Adelaide, Eastern Eyre Peninsula and Kangaroo Island districts by 6pm on Friday, but warnings remained in place for other areas.
A severe wind gust of 130km/k hit Lameroo just before 7pm, while a gust of 98km/h was recorded at Renmark at 6.39pm. Gusts above 90km/h were also recorded at Yunta and Port Augusta.
Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Tom Boeck said Adelaide’s highest gust was 72km/h at Edinburgh as the worst of the storm belted the metropolitan area around 4.40pm.
The highest rainfall was 32.4mm north of Birdwood, while Mt Pleasant received 30.8mm of rain. Mt Lofty received about 17mm.
“Generally over the Adelaide metropolitan area the falls were in the 10-20mm range,” Mr Boeck said.
More rain is expected to fall on Saturday, with between 10mm-20mm likely across the metropolitan area and 20mm-30mm predicted for the Hills, with some of the more elevated areas likely to receive 30mm-50mm.
“Moderate falls are still possible to be coming in later today and run into Sunday,” Mr Boeck said.
As for the Christmas Pageant, some rainfall is also possible.
“It’s not looking as if it will be too bad for the pageant., we can’t rule out a shower for the pageant,” he said,
“But for the moment it’s looking dry.”
Severe thunderstorms were first detected near Port Vincent, Mallala and the middle of the Gulf about 4.20pm on Friday.
They hit the city, Glenelg, Noarlunga and Gawler at about 4.45pm and Mount Barker, Strathalbyn and Victor Harbor by 5.20pm.
Adelaide reached 31C at 3.30pm on Friday but the temperature quickly decreased as the storm approached.
