Houses damaged as storm sweeps across parts of South Australia

Houses damaged as storm sweeps across parts of South Australia

STORMS in South Australia have been so bad, one woman had to paddle a kayak to get a cheeseburger from McDonalds.

As a second front of wild weather heads across large parts of South Australia, residents of Port Lincoln have been grappling with floods, The Adelaide Advertiserreports.

Patrons at Port Lincoln city’s McDonald’s restaurant were forced to leave as it flooded to ankle depth.

One local resident, Tamara Barker, 18, paddled a canoe to get four cheeseburgers.

The good news is — the staff served her.

Pictures of Tamara picking up her burgers were splashed all over social media.

“The manager came out and said ‘this is the funniest thing I’ve seen’,” Ms Barker said.

“They didn’t expect a kayak to come around the corner.”

“I really wasn’t expecting it (the photos) to go anywhere,” she said.

“My phone hasn’t stopped ringing.”

Across the state, fresh weather warnings have been issued for Mt Barker and Callington areas. A severe thunderstorm is heading over the area in the Adelaide Hills, bringing damaging winds, large hailstones and heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding.

The Bureau of Meteorology says the thunderstorm is slow moving and that it’s likely to hit an area between Mount Barker, Callington and Kanmantoo.

There is also a severe thunderstorm, wind and rainfall warning for the Flinders, Mid North, Riverland, Murraylands and parts of the Adelaide Metropolitan, Mount Lofty Ranges, Upper South East and North East Pastoral districts.

Strong winds are likely in locations such as Renmark, Waikerie, Lameroo, Hawker, Jamestown and Yunta.

There are reports of houses flooding at Brinkworth and Spalding.

A tornado formed earlier in the day near Monarto.

An earlier severe thunderstorm warning for Adelaide has been cancelled, as has a warning for the Eastern Eyre Peninsula, Yorke Peninsula and North West Pastoral districts.

The storms came after heavy rainfall and winds hit the state earlier, with building damage and flooding at Kapunda, and 36mm of rain at Sedan Hill in less than an hour.

The SES has responded to several incidents in Kapunda, including flooding at the Kapunda Primary School and roof damage at several private properties.

Flooding was reported in Whyalla at several homes and businesses while trees also have come down.

In the Mid-North, there are reports of roof damage and flooding in Burra and Jamestown and Morgan, where water has entered homes.

The storm has moved east over the Barossa Valley and the Adelaide Hills, down to the Fleurieu Peninsula and across the Murraylands, with SES call-outs at Meningie and Sedan.

Further storm activity is developing in the Upper Eyre Peninsula and Mid North, from Whyalla across to Jamestown.

The Bureau of Meteorology earlier issued an updated severe weather warning for heavy rain, damaging winds, large hailstones and possible flooding for the Flinders, Riverland, Murraylands, Mid North and North East Pastoral districts, and parts of the Mt Lofty Ranges, Eastern Eyre Peninsula, Yorke Peninsula and North West Pastoral districts.

The SES is warning people in those areas, as well as Adelaide, to watch out for flash flooding, and distributed sandbags today to homes and business owners that may be affected.

Hundreds of homes lost power across the Eyre Peninsula and Mid North overnight, with SA Power Networks crews working throughout the night to restore power to more than 7000 homes.

Port Pirie was drenched with 87mm of rain overnight, Whyalla received 57mm and Virginia had about 30mm.

Adelaide was largely spared the majority of last night’s rain, receiving just five to 15mm.

But SES spokesman John Carr warned that the metro area won’t escape the storm activity today.