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ABC News
ABC News
National

Heavy rain turns Adelaide streets into rivers, as late summer storm also hits Barossa

Two boys paddle on a board on a flooded street at Grange in Adelaide's west. (Twitter: Tom Rockliff)

Heavy rain has caused flash flooding in parts of Adelaide, submerging suburban streets as an intense storm hit the city.

The western suburbs, including Grange, Tennyson, Seaton and West Lakes, have been among the most heavily impacted areas.

Roads, footpaths and car parks were all inundated.

Former Port Adelaide footballer Tom Rockliff shared on Twitter a video showing a flooded street at Grange that had enough water for two boys to get out a surfboard and a paddle.

The road was "now a river", he said.

The State Emergency Service (SES) said it had received about 100 calls for assistance since 2pm, mostly in response to localised flooding.

Despite the intensity of the downpour, it was too localised to be reflected on weather bureau gauges. (ABC News)

But the SES said the "slow-moving cell" was now expected to dissipate.

ABC Radio Adelaide listener Nick said he was at the shops in West Lakes when the storm hit at about 3pm, partially submerging his car.

"I am seeing the biggest storm I've seen in my life.

"It took me 25 minutes to get to the car because the rain just wouldn't stop."

Tapleys Hill, Findon and Military roads were among the arterial roads to bear the brunt of the storm cell. There have also been reports of hail at the base of the South Eastern Freeway.

Seaton resident Diane said the water was threatening to spill over into her house.

"It's probably about four-inches deep out the back under our garage and it's starting to run into the back area," she told ABC Radio Adelaide.

"It's just lapping into the back door now."

Heavy downpours have also occurred further north, over the northern suburbs and Barossa.

Parts of the Barossa recorded the highest rainfalls to 4pm, with 34 millimetres at Yaldara, 28mm at Gomersal and 25mm at Nuriootpa.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) earlier issued a severe thunderstorm warning for damaging winds, heavy rain and large hailstones in widespread parts of the state.

While the immediate threat has now passed in the metropolitan area, the warning remains in place for eastern districts.

More than 2,000 properties were earlier without power, although it remains unclear how many of those outages were weather related.

Parts of Adelaide's western suburbs have been inundated. (ABC News)

Senior forecaster Jenny Horvat said the falls in the western suburbs had been localised, avoiding BOM rain gauges.

"It is quite an intense system … [but] we don't actually have a lot of automatic weather stations where it is," she said earlier this afternoon.

"We're generally looking at that cell in the western suburbs around that Tennyson, Grange area and it is quite slow moving.

"There is another storm up around Salisbury at the moment."

The BOM said the weather was being driven by an upper-level disturbance and a low-pressure system.

A Bureau of Meteorology radar image shows rainfall and storm activity over parts of Adelaide. (Bureau of Meteorology)
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