Heavy rain, strong winds lash SA

Gale-force winds tore through parts of SA on Thursday night, bringing down trees and destroying large sections of running rail at Strathalbyn’s racetrack.

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Damaging gale-force winds of up to 110km/h tore through Strathalbyn, bringing down trees and destroying large sections of the running rail at the town’s racetrack as wild weather swept across South Australia.

Club track manager Haydn Reid said damage to parts of the course on Thursday was the worst he had seen.

“It was wind damage from the storm that’s caused that to fall down as well as a lot of other running rails,” Mr Reid said.

A motorhome was blown on to its side on Callington Rd, Woodchester, around noon. Bureau of Meteorology senior weather forecaster Tom Boeck said wind gusts of up to 100km/h were recorded at Murray Bridge and on Hindmarsh Island.

Strathalbyn CFS were busy attending to storm damage in the Strathalbyn area. Picture: Ross Melville Strathalbyn CFS

Trees were down and buildings damaged. Picture: Ross Melville Strathalbyn CFS

A motorhome was blown over by strong winds on Callington Road, Woodchester about midday. Picture: Judy Schriever

Railings were bent by high winds at the Strathalbyn Racing Club. Picture: Facebook

“Elsewhere there were gusty, windy conditions generally about the southern coast with some thunderstorm activity around as well,” he said.

Mr Boeck said rainfall would sweep across Adelaide, with the heaviest falls expected in the Mt Lofty Ranges on Friday.

“There could be very heavy rain periods generally over the south but in terms of there being potentially a flooding issue, we are limiting that to the Mt Lofty Ranges.”

The bureau also warned Victor Harbor, Port Lincoln, Whyalla, Mt Gambier, Port Pirie, Maitland, Murray Bridge, and Kingscote would not escape the deluge.

SES volunteers filling sandbags at Mount Barker getting ready for the wet weather. Picture: Tom Huntley

Mr Reid said: “We’ve got a couple of trees that have actually blown over and snapped at the ground as well from the wind … it’s been very horrid.”

He said due to safety reasons, he and his team went home from work early to avoid the winds.

The owners of a chicken coop at Rockleigh, near Kanmantoo, that was destroyed by the strong winds put out a plea for help on social media.

Owners of the coop, Furever Farm, were on the hunt for anyone to foster the now homeless hens and roosters as well as asking tradies for their assistance to mend the broken coop.

SES had responded to up to 100 incidents by mid-evening and duty officer Robert Charlton said wind gusts of more than 100km/h had already been recorded.

Most of the calls were for trees brought down by the weather at Strathalbyn, Port Elliot, Finniss and Hindmarsh Valley.

SES will have free sandbags available at a number of locations, including Waterworld at Ridgehaven, Tumby Bay, Stuart SES unit, Tea Tree Gully Council depot and Noarlunga SES unit.