Port Augusta mops up after big downpour
Residents of Port Augusta are counting the cost of a fierce hailstorm that surpassed the city’s average September rainfall in just 30 minutes.
Flooded streets in Port Augusta after a recent downpour. Photo: Manny Reynolds/Facebook
The rain in Port Augusta has eased off this morning after 40mm bucketed down on the Spencer Gulf city from 9am Wednesday to 9am Thursday.
Adelaide was able to avoid the worst of the downpour, with the Bureau of Meteorology’s Adelaide Airport observation station recording just 5.6mm of rain in the 24 hours since 9am on Wednesday.
The storm in Port Augusta included a 21mm burst of rainfall from 3.55pm to 4.25pm, according to the BoM.
The 30-minute downpour saw Port Augusta receive more rain than its average September rainfall of 17.6mm.
Scenes in Port Augusta on Wednesday. Anne McMahon/Facebook
A sheet of hail covers a car park. Photo: Port Augusta East Weather/Facebook
The State Emergency Service advised at 9pm on Wednesday that the risk of flooding in Port Augusta has reduced but some roads remain affected by the storm.
Port Augusta Council has closed the Civic Centre and Library along with the local childcare centre due to flooding.
Videos on social media have shown water flooding into businesses and sheets of hail covering local streets.
Large hail lashing the upper spencer gulf. A flood Watch and Act message has been issued for Port Augusta. #wildweather #SouthAustralia pic.twitter.com/E0HufgC2nl
— Edward McCarroll (@edmccarroll) September 7, 2022
Massive storm has struck #portaugusta bringing torrential rain, hail, lightning and thunder. More on @SpencerGulfNN with @madelinemaykerr pic.twitter.com/ZjbHJsYJXR
— Daniel Pizarro (@DJPizarro) September 7, 2022
Cinema Port Augusta owner Michelle Coles said her cinema was severely damaged in the storm.
“There’s so much damage up here, it’s just awful,” she told ABC Radio this morning.
“There’s businesses closed everywhere… the hail was just unbelievable. I’m an old lady and I’ve never heard anything like it.
“[The hail] was about the size of small golf balls, when they first started it was like someone was throwing these enormous rocks on our roof.
Video of the hailstorm in Port Augusta on Wednesday. Video: Mardi Cornish/Facebook
“It was just a sea of white outside, all the roads were just white and covered with ice because the hail was just so intense.”
It’s the second major weather event to hit Port Augusta this year after a summer storm saw the city record four times its average January rainfall fell in one hour.
The January 31 downpour saw 51.6mm of rain dumped on Port Augusta between 8 and 9pm that night and resulted in 80 calls for assistance to the SES.
“There are so many people here hurting, there are people who have only just recently reopened their business from when we had the floods in January,” Coles said.
“There were people’s rooves collapsed, of course the gutters just couldn’t take the weight of all this hail.
“It was incredible, quite frightening actually.”
The BoM says the immediate threat of thunderstorms around Port Augusta has passed but the situation will continue to be monitored.
