Weather News

Storm forces road closures

A number of roads in South Australia's far north have been closed due to a heavy storm overnight.

About 45 millimetres of rain fell at Lyndhurst, Woomera recorded 20 millimetres and Marree almost 20 millimetres.

The Strzelecki track, some roads out of Oodnadatta and the Marla to Mintabie and Lambina roads have all been closed because of the rain.

The San Marino and Arkaringa roads out of Mt Barry are also closed.

A heavy storm also passed over the Ernabella, Marla and Oodnadatta region, bringing with it strong winds and large hail.

Kylie Fuller from De Rose Hill Station, just south of the Northern Territory border, says it is the first decent rain they have had in four years.

"It's just been really dry and if we have had rain it's been really patchy sort of rain that might get one part of the place and not another, whereas this has been a really good general rain and it's had a lot of the creeks flowing that haven't been flowing for a while," he said.

Emergency services commander Gerry Habils says people need to be careful in the aftermath of the storm.

"Don't drive or ride through floodwater and that's fairly obvious because that can be fairly fast flowing with sudden dam bursts," he said.

"Those thunderstorms can be so unpredictable with the effect, it pays for people to stay fairly vigilant."

- ABC

© ABC 2008

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