Thousands of South Australians without power amid severe storms

Thousands of residents of South Australia state were left without power on Tuesday amid severe thunderstorms.

As of 7.30 a.m. on Tuesday morning, more than 7,000 premises in the state capital of Adelaide and its surrounding suburbs were without power – down from 14,000 earlier – after the city was hit by a powerful lightning storm, reports Xinhua news agency.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), most areas of the city received between 10 and 20 mm of rain in the early hours of Tuesday morning,.

Meanwhile, the south-eastern suburb of Brownhill Creek received 45.8 mm in one hour to 7 a.m.

By comparison, in all of October Adelaide received 11.6 mm of rain.

The severe weather has damaged homes, prompted warnings for South Australians to stay off the roads and prevented any flights from taking off from Adelaide airport on Tuesday morning.

A severe thunderstorm warning remained in place for Adelaide for Tuesday, with the BoM warning of intense rainfall that could cause flash flooding.

“I think they’ll continue on and off during the morning, perhaps easing late morning or in the afternoon, and then clearing late afternoon or evening,” senior forecaster Simon Timke told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

The State Emergency Service (SES) has advised residents in affected areas to avoid driving, riding or walking through floodwater, stay indoors away from windows while storms are nearby and keep clear of areas prone to flooding.

Kate Dawson, a South Australia Police Senior Constable, told the ABC that there have been widespread reports of traffic light outages and flooded roads, asking everyone to exercise caution on the roads.