South Australian towns warned of dam failure risk after heavy rains

Residents of two towns are on alert for flooding as wild weather lashing South Australia put two dams at risk of failure.

Residents of two South Australian towns are bracing for potential flooding after heavy rains pushed their dams to the brink of failure following a recent spell of wild weather.

Emergency services on Sunday warned there was a high risk of dam failure in Basket Range which could threaten the safety of the people in the Adelaide Hills town.

The SA State Emergency Service issued a watch and act alert for Basket Range at 10.30am, saying Lobethal Road between Basket Range and Ashton at risk and roads being closed.

Properties along Deep Creek from Lobethal Road towards Elborough Ave may also be affected.

The Basket Range warning comes after the SA SES on Saturday evening issued a similar watch and act alert for residents of Hope Forest, a town of about 150 people 40km south of Adelaide.

As of 9am Sunday, Hope Forest properties near the intersection of Bevan Road, Phillips Road and Verrall Road, as well as in the vicinity of Brookman and Decaux Roads are at risk.

#FLOOD Watch and Act MESSAGE issued for dam failure at Basket Range. If you are in this area you should prepare for flooding. Move valuables to a safe place. Consider going to a safer place if the path is clear. More info: https://t.co/V3RrBHfitn ID:537/1

— SASES (@SA_SES) June 25, 2023

The Bureau of Meteorology has severe weather warnings in place for parts of South Australia, including for strong winds near the capital. Credit: SA SES

Road closures remain in place for Bevan Road, Verrall Road, Phillips Road, Brookman Road and Decaux Road.

In both Basket Range and Hope Forest, the SES is urging people to monitor weather conditions and warnings, follow their emergency plans and prepare their family and home for flooding.

People whose emergency plans are to leave, should consider leaving now if they require time to leave or are not prepared to do so.

This is the dam in Hope Forrest threatening to collapse. They estimate it holds roughly 22 million litres. There’s a number of houses in the path if it does fail and the SES says there’s really not much they can do. @10NewsFirstAdlpic.twitter.com/2xE5WSeBpt

— Jase Kemp (@jasetaylorkemp) June 25, 2023

Residents should only leave if they are certain that the path is clear to a safer place, with those who require SES assistance encouraged to phone 132 500.

The SES is reminding people to call triple-0 if they find themselves in a life-threatening situation.

Emergency services were responding to 20 ongoing incidents across the state about 12pm on Sunday after being called to 65 incidents in the first half of the day alone.

Hope Forest dam is threatening to collapse. Credit: 10 News First

SES personnel are at the scene. Credit: 10 News First

The Bureau of Meteorology has severe weather warnings in place for parts of South Australia, including for damaging winds in parts of Mount Lofty Ranges and Murraylands districts.

Peak gusts of around 100 km/h are possible over the Mount Lofty Ranges and adjacent areas to the east, particularly with shower activity.

The strong winds are forecast as a result of a series of troughs associated with a slow-moving, deep low pressure system to the south of the state moving across the central coasts on Sunday.

Damaging wind gusts are expected to ease below by Sunday evening, but the risk of falling trees is high after recent heavy rain.

The weather bureau has also issued a flood watch warning for parts of the northwest and northeast pastoral districts from Tuesday.

This widespread, unseasonal rainfall across the North West and North East Pastoral Districts is likely to begin from Monday in north western SA.

From Tuesday this is likely to intensify and start to move more eastwards.

Originally published as South Australian towns warned of dam failure risk after heavy rains