Nine schools closed, thousands still without power as hailstorm damage bill for SA’s growers may hit $100m

Nine schools across the state remain closed due to outages and thousands of properties are still without power after Thursday’s wild thunderstorms cut a swath of destruction.

Nine schools remain closed, thousands of properties remain without power and damage in the tens of millions of dollars has been caused to crops, after storms lashed the state.

The schools include Waikerie Children’s Centre, Waikerie Primary School, Waikerie High, Blanchetown Primary, Birdwood High, Lake Windemere School, Salisbury High, Mount Pleasant Primary and Springton Primary.

The Education Department said on Friday afternoon that teams were working hard to mop up schools before Monday, especially the high schools were Year 12 exams are scheduled to begin next week.

The State Emergency Service was run off its feet on Thursday, with volunteers responding to more than 1200 call-outs for help in the 24 hours until 6am Friday.

SES state duty officer Brenton Clarke said there was widespread damage across the state, especially the Eyre Peninsula, Barossa Valley and Riverland.

The worst hit suburb was Salisbury, where 760 of the calls for help were made from.

“A number of areas including metropolitan Adelaide were impacted, with trees coming down on to the road, cars and powerlines,” Mr Clarke said on Friday.

He said significant work was still to be done to recover damage, including in the northern suburbs, where strike teams from other emergency services organisations would assist.

“We’re not expecting a significant wind or shower event today, which is giving us time to clear damages,” he said.

Widespread power outages totalling more than 5000 remained on Friday afternoon – down from around 12,000 at first light, mainly north of the city.

SA Power Networks said it was working through the day to restore power, estimating more than 60,000 people lost power across the state at the height of the storm, with supply restored to about 80 per cent of customers by first light Friday morning.

Fruit and vegetable crops have been wiped out while there has been widespread destruction to horticultural infrastructure, especially glasshouses.

On Friday morning, SES crews were kept busy responding to multiple trees down as people woke to storm damage, including at Bellevue Heights, Novar Gardens, Vale Park, Morphettville, Blackwood and Plympton.

Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Vince Rowlands said there were wind gusts of 107km/h at Mt Crawford about 8.30pm on Thursday, and 96km/h at Adelaide Airport about the same time.

Adelaide saw more than 11mm of rain on Thursday, with other parts of the South East including Naracoorte seeing 35mm.

Mr Rowlands said there were risks of showers around Adelaide, the Hills and southern suburbs on Friday.

“But we’re certainly not expecting anything like we saw yesterday (Thursday),” Mr Rowlands said.

He said Thursday’s weather event was quite rare in Adelaide.

“It probably is a bit unusual for the timing of it but we do get quite a bit of thunderstorm activity during that spring period … but certainly seeing hail the size that we saw over the northern suburbs is not something that we see very often in the Adelaide region.”

Mr Rowlands said he understood such large hail had not been recorded in the state since about 2017.

Kit, Elaine and Michael Xuan among the broken glass inside one of their glasshouses at Buckland Park. Picture: Morgan Sette

Friday and Saturday are forecast to hit 18C while Sunday is expected to warm to 24C.

“That warming trend continues until we get that next trough moving through late Tuesday to Wednesday, so some more showers heading our way Tuesday late in the day and Wednesday, and hopefully we don't see anything like we saw yesterday (Thursday with this next trough),” Mr Rowlands said.

The storms began rolling over SA early Thursday morning, bringing golf ball-sized hailstones and drenching rain. More than 72,000 lightning strikes were recorded in two hours.

AUSVEG chief executive Jordan Brooke-Barnett said Adelaide Plains vegetable growers described hailstorms that smashed their market gardens as the worst they had experienced in their lifetimes.

“It is really, really bad,” he said. “We are talking about damage in the tens and tens of millions.”

Mr Brooke-Barnett said if any fruit or vegetable grower had been able to escape unscathed “they have been bloody lucky”.

“If the total damage bill across the state doesn’t pass $100 million I would be very surprised,” he said.

Tenafeate Creek Winery, which was closed after unwittingly becoming the site of a superspreader Covid event earlier in the year, was hit hard.

Owner Michael Costa said he was “absolutely bloody devastated”.

“Our thoughts go out to all the grape growers and winemakers,” he said.

Tenafeate Creek Wines owner Michael Costa with his ruined crops. Picture: Tenafeate Creek Wines

The majority of Elaine Xuan’s glasshouses were destroyed across her family’s three farms in Buckland Park and Waterloo Corner. Picture: Elaine Xuan

Mr Brooke-Barnett said hailstones the size of golf balls had destroyed dozens of glasshouses, most of which were uninsured.

“It only happened a few hours ago but it is safe to say the extent of the damage is huge,” he said.

“We are talking about dozens and dozens of growers who have each lost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“Their crops have been wiped out, they have lost most of their infrastructure.

“It hit the north of the Gawler River first and then moved right through the centre, right across Virginia.

“Farmers in their 60s have told me they have never seen anything like it in their lives.”

The storm front moved on to wreak havoc in the Barossa Valley, particularly Tanunda, where the main street was hit by flash flooding.

It then swept south to Gawler, Elizabeth and Salisbury, leaving hundreds of cars with dented roofs and smashed windows before heading across northern Adelaide to the Riverland and South-East.

A bushfire that was contained on a private property at Carriewerloo, near Iron Knob, was reignited on Thursday by lightning after it was contained on Wednesday night.

The fire was originally reported about 3.15pm Wednesday in the state’s Far North and reignited about 1.30pm Thursday.

CFS crews alerted people to smoke that might be visible from the Stuart Highway with potential to impact visibility. It was contained in the afternoon.

Massive hail stones that fell at Elizabeth. Picture: Ben Stubing

A massive lightning bolt seen from Port Wakefield Road. Picture: Pick A Local, Pick SA

Nine schools were closed after flooding or power blackouts while the Housing SA office at Salisbury was closed when its ceiling was damaged.

An estimated 15,000 to 20.000 properties lost power during the storms.

SA Power Networks spokesman Paul Roberts said crews were working to restore electricity at various locations.

“There were quite extensive power outages following the lightning, rain and winds which passed across the state,” he said.

“They stretched from the bottom of Eyre Peninsula up to Streaky Bay right down to Keith and Bordertown, north to Port Pirie and Quorn and then south near the north of the city and into the Adelaide Hills.”

Massive hailstones as storms hit SA

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Apple and Pear Growers Association chief executive Jose Gil said orchardists in the Adelaide Hills were still assessing the damage on Thursday afternoon.

Most cherry, apple and pear crops were at the early stages of fruit development.

“It’s a bit early to know exactly what has happened but it seems anything under nets has been spared,” he said.

Mr Gil said preliminary reports showed most of the damage was in the northern Adelaide Hills.

“I went for a drive earlier on and you can see the hail sitting in the nets on trees so they have worked,” he said.

Huge piles of hail caught in nets at Lettuce King Joe Giangregorio’s property Rainbow Fresh at Lewiston. Picture: Rainbow Fresh

SA Wine Industry Association chief executive Brian Smedley said the damage caused to vineyards was still being assessed late on Thursday.

“There are areas in the Barossa and the Adelaide Hills which have been impacted,” he said.

Iconic Barossa winery Seppeltsfield reported flooded offices and Faith Lutheran School also reported flooding through the roof.

An Insurance Council spokeswoman said it was too early to estimate how many cars may have been damaged by the hailstorms.