Wayville family returns to smashed home after storms brings wall crashing down
A young family has returned from hospital to their battered home after Tuesday morning’s wild storm brought a neighbouring structure crashing down on them.
SA News
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A baby and her young parents have returned to their Wayville home 24 hours after a concrete wall collapsed and fell on her during yesterday’s storm.
On arrival little Luna, only three-months-old appeared healthy and happy after the wall — which nearly hit her and her mother while breastfeeding — caused glass from a window to shatter on her.
The young family of three were seen out the front of their home after staying at a relatives house last night.
The family said they were unable to comment on the incident at this time.
Tuesday’s storm:
A baby and her young parents have returned to their Wayville home after a frightening near miss when a building under construction next door collapsed on their house in the wake of the morning’s wild storm.
The Wayville home suffered major damage and nearby offices were evacuated after a wall at a construction site collapsed over the fence and into a neighbouring yard in the wake of a wild storm in Adelaide overnight.
The family rushed three month old baby Luna to hospital after the wall collapsed at about 10.30am on Tuesday, causing major damage to their home.
Returning home to collect belongings on Tuesday evening, the mother had bandaged knees from cuts she suffered when glass shattered over the pair as they breastfed.
Luna’s father said the baby girl was lucky to escape with only minor cuts.
It comes after a popular gym at nearby Unley had to be deserted after its roof collapsed in the deluge.
A neighbour to the damaged property said it was a lucky escape.
“The whole area vibrated when the wall came down; there was a huge bang,” she said.
“I knew it was this (wall). But if it came down either side of this one...”
The woman was among the first to check on her neighbours whose property was damaged on its roof and solar panels.
“I just rushed outside, I thought it (was the other side of the property),” she said.
“But the people at the offices at the back saw me and pointed me in this direction.
“We all had to be evacuated.”
The neighbour said she was waiting to be allowed back inside her home, and watched as building crews reinforced the remaining three concrete walls at the construction site.
She was critical of the build, saying it should not have been approved and said residents were not consulted.
The townhouses at 118 Rose Terrace are under construction but website listings have them for sale from $899,000.
When completed, there will be six luxury townhouses with a roof terrace.
Building crews arrived at the site to reinforce the remaining concrete walls that were considered at-risk in the wild weather.
The apartment construction site is taped off with emergency services awaiting inspections.
Workers told of a loud bang they initially mistook for thunder or an earthquake when the wall toppled.
A neighbouring office worker, who did not want to be named, said it “wasn’t overly windy” when the wall came crashing down.
“There was just this enormous bang; I thought it must have been a lightning strike or thunder,” he said.
“Then we saw the debris.”
He described the moments after the collapse as chaotic as people ran to the home’s back yard and banged on the fence, fearing there were people inside.
“They were trying to see if there was anyone home or at the back porch,” he said.
The office worker said a woman was at the house that fronts Hamilton Blvd, and she came rushing outside seconds after the big bang
“There were definitely no workers on the construction site because of the weather,” he said.
“There are two walls that are pretty much the same height as the one that came down, and I wouldn’t feel overly safe.”
A SafeWork SA spokesman said the agency was investigating.
SES crews also sandbagged homes on Leader St in Everard Park after a torrent of water gushed from popped stormwater chambers near the Anzac Highway intersection.
Three cars were semi-submerged on Third Ave, opposite Hungry Jacks, as the road was closed.
The State Emergency Service was inundated with more than 250 requests for help after storms and heavy rainfall lashed the city overnight
SES south regional coordinator Stephanie Zakrzewski said the most intense period of rainfall was between 6-9am Tuesday morning.
The Mitcham area was hit particularly hard, with 45mm falling between 6-7am.
“Whilst the weather was anticipated, the intensity of that downpour was quite sudden,” she said.
“Whilst the weather is now moving through and past the metropolitan area, we would like people to still be mindful that there could still be some intense wind gusts later this afternoon.”
Most of the callouts were related to water entering homes or flooded roads but the SES also responded to a person trapped in a car at Wayville.
A Leader St resident of about 10 years said he left for work about 6am but returned to find flooding approaching his front door.
His property was among those to be sandbagged.
He said flash flooding was not uncommon in the area but generally wasn’t too bad if the water main covers remained in tact.
But the morning torrent had risen quicker than expected.
Michael Mannering, who has lived on Third Ave for 29 years, said the water usually came from Brown Hill Creek but this time came from Leader St.
“That was the amazing thing about it - where was all the water coming from?” he said.
Alison and Darren Loffler live closer to the Leader St intersection and, by sheer luck, asked the council to clear a clogged drain a week ago.
Uber driver Najibullah Dostdar was devastated watching a tow truck load his car that got caught in the waters, likely putting him out of work.
Mr Dostdar said he was finishing a lift on the street and didn’t see the depth of the water that caught him unawares.
They said the flash flooding could have been much worse given the volume gushing through the street had the drain not been cleared.
The couple anticipated a lot of water in the morning after the consistent deluge overnight.
“Normally when the rain comes down, you expect it to finish after a while,” Mr Loffler said.
“But it just kept coming, and coming hard.
“With this one, it was just the intensity of it.”
Mr Loffler said the rain didn’t ease at all, and it wasn’t until a neighbour text him to check the cars he dashed outside.
With the area prone to flash flooding, the couple move their cars to the neighbouring Hungry Jack’s.
“We got up and outside, stood up on the top of the table and it was just a sea,” he said.
It follows heavy rainfall overnight, with many Adelaide residents waking up to loud thunder, scores of lightning strikes and between 25mm to 35mm of rain.
A severe thunderstorm warning remains in place for the Adelaide region. A general thunderstorm warning remains in place for the Yorke Peninsula, Mid North, Riverland and Murraylands.
It comes after the SES warned road users not to drive through flood water as the rain continues to fall across the state.
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