SA hit with almost 250,000 lightning strikes while 39,000 lost power as wild storm lashed state

A total of 39,000 customers lost power during Thursday night’s storm, as SA’s skies were lit up with 250,000 lightning strikes, with wind gusts of at least 130km/h and more than 40mm in rain.

South Australia’s skies were lit up with almost 250,000 lightning strikes that left as many as 22,000 without power as a massive storm lashed the state on Thursday night.

The storm rolled in on Thursday and strong winds hit much of the state with gusts of up to 130km/h recorded at Port Pirie and Roxby Downs.

The Bureau of Meteorology initially reported 130,000 strikes but SA Power Networks (SAPN) later revised that total, saying it had recorded almost 250,000 lightning strikes, with a peak of 400 strikes a minute during the worst of the storm.

In the he 24 hours to 9.39am Friday, 39,000 customers lost power, SAPN said. By 8am on Friday, there were still 65 outages affecting more than 9400 customers. But that figure had dropped to 63 outages, affecting 5540 customers, by 10am.

Rainfall was sporadic across SA but Snowtown was the hardest hit with 44mm while Freeling had 36mm and Nuriootpa had 34mm.

A Barossa Valley shopping centre’s carpark has been left flooded after a monster storm smashed parts of SA. #7NEWSpic.twitter.com/BP4mStRqu1

— 7NEWS Adelaide (@7NewsAdelaide) October 18, 2024

The wild storm tore power towers down with Olympic Dam losing operational power overnight. While in the Barossa Valley a shopping centre carpark was left completely under water.

It’s been confirmed that both the Davenport to Olympic Dam and Davenport to Pimba transmission lines have towers down – two towers down on the Olympic Dam and five towers down on the Pimba Line.

A photo of the storm rolling in on Flahertys Beach. Picture: Facebook/Anna Horn

Lightning activity has slowed from a peak of 400 strikes per minute overnight and we recorded a total of around 250,000 lightning strikes across South Australia. Picture: SA Power Networks

Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Mark Anolak told ABC radio while there was still some thunderstorm activity across the state – particularly in the South-East – conditions should calm throughout the day.

“There is a south-westerly wind change moving through and that is going to make things drier … by the end of today, we’ll see a marked decrease in shower activity so that by the weekend, we’re looking at dry conditions right across the state.”

Adelaide is in for a partly cloudy day on Friday with a high chance of showers and a possible thunderstorm in the morning, with more rain in the early afternoon. Winds will be west to southwesterly 20 to 30 km/h increasing to 35 km/h before tending south to southwesterly 15 to 20 km/h during the day.

Originally published as SA hit with almost 250,000 lightning strikes while 39,000 lost power as wild storm lashed state