More than 163,000 SA Power Networks customers were left without power over the weekend after a spring storm – featuring more than 400,000 lightning strikes – passed over the state on Saturday.

The wild weather caused widespread damage across metropolitan Adelaide and prompted more than 2000 calls to emergency services over the weekend due to property damage and downed trees and powerlines.

As of midday today, the number of customers without power has dropped to below 31,000, down from more than 35,000 at 8am this morning, according to SA Power Networks’ outages map.

Downed powerlines and trees at a property in Upper Sturt. Photo: Tony Lewis/InDaily

Malinauskas said Saturday’s storm caused an “unprecedented” 550 powerlines to go down across South Australia.

“Clearly we saw an incredibly significant weather event occur across Saturday, and in some respects still continuing,” Malinauskas told reporters today.

The storm also damaged a transmission tower along the South Australia-Victorian electricity interconnector – forcing the disconnection of power flows to and from Victoria.

This evening’s significant weather event has damaged a transmission tower just outside Tailem Bend. Customer supply has not been impacted and ElectraNet has crews on site assessing the situation. More information will be available later Sunday morning. pic.twitter.com/83Fx0Xdnxe

— ElectraNet (@ElectraNetAU) November 12, 2022

The interconnector’s operator, ElectraNet, said customer supply “has not been impacted” by the damaged transmission tower.

“Until the damaged tower is repaired, power flows to and from Vic are constrained to zero, which will require curtailment of rooftop solar to maintain system stability,” the company said in a statement.

Malinuaskas said the damaged interconnector would not affect the supply of power in South Australia.

“I do want to make the point that this is quite a distinct issue from supply – there is no shortage of supply in South Australia at the moment when it comes to energy,” he said.

“In actual fact, if anything the challenge is the opposite – an oversupply of power.

“South Australia losing the interconnection with Victoria doesn’t create a risk in terms of supply into the electricity market.

“The generation capacity that exists within the state at the moment is more than enough to be able to supply South Australia for all of its power needs.”

Damaged trees and powerlines in Blackwood. Premier Peter Malinauskas says the cost of Saturday’s storm is unknown at this stage. Photo: Tony Lewis/InDaily

Malinauskas said the interconnector being online would have seen power in South Australia flowing into Victoria, rather than the other way around.

The State Emergency Management Committee will meet tomorrow to receive an update on the response to the storm, Malinauskas said, while cabinet will receive a briefing today from the Department for Energy and Mining bureaucrat in charge of the energy system.

Photo: Tony Lewis/InDaily

More than 30 public schools and preschools are closed today due to power outages and storm damage.

“It is our hope that a number of those schools will be back online tomorrow,” Malinauskas said.

The Education Department said the list of closed schools was being updated on their Facebook page.

The closures come in the middle of Year 12 exams. The Premier said disrupted exams would be rescheduled.

“Our advice is that those people have had their exams interrupted they’ll be rescheduled as quickly as possible,” Malinauskas said.

Earlier, Education Department CEO Westwell said students with SACE exams at schools closed today will not be able to sit their exams and will be assessed on their work throughout the year.

“We can’t rerun it because you’ve just had hundreds of students in other schools doing that exam and being aware of questions on the paper,” he told ABC Radio Adelaide.