The Education Department reported on Monday evening that 24 public schools and preschools would remain closed into Tuesday, down from nearly 50 on Monday.

The Department said the number of closed schools was initially expected to be 33 but “developments later in the day” allowed nine schools to open.

It comes as power continues to be restored to households and businesses across the state, with the number of SA Power Networks customers affected by outages dropping to below 12,500.

The number of people without power reached more than 164,000 on Saturday and was still above 30,000 on Monday afternoon.

The electricity distributor’s power outages map shows 152 outages across South Australia as of 7.30am today.

Education Department CEO Martin Westwell said it was unsafe for children to return to schools without power.

Coromandel Valley Primary School was among those to be closed by Saturday’s storm. Photo: Tony Lewis/InDaily

“We appreciate these closures are difficult for our families and school communities, and we are grateful all the work being done to return our schools and preschools to full operation,” Westwell said in a statement.

“Schools and preschools without power are closed as it is just not safe for children and students to be at a site that does not have power.”

The Education Department said it was advised by the SACE board that one school was unable to conduct its chemistry exam on Monday, which impacted 25 students.

Interim SACE CEO Michaela Bensley said 45 students at Marden Senior College and 27 at Blackwood High would be unable to sit their psychology exam today.

“They won’t be able to sit this exam, but the teachers throughout the year have provided us with what they predict the students will achieve for their results,” Bensley told ABC Radio Adelaide this morning.

“We use that information to be able to create an exam result for them.

“The exams are worth 30 per cent of their whole subject, so 70 per cent they’ve already completed with their teachers throughout the year.”

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

Premier Peter Malinauskas yesterday sought to ease concerns about South Australia’s supply of energy, saying: “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.”

It comes after Saturday’s storm knocked over a transmission tower along the South Australia-Victorian electricity interconnector – forcing the disconnection of power flows to and from Victoria.

Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis said work was underway to stand up a temporary transmission tower to restart flows between the two states.

“We’re planning on Friday to have a temporary tower in place that would reenergise the interconnector and allow us to begin exporting and importing and balance the system,” he told reporters on Monday.

“But I understand the terrain is very, very wet, soggy, and it’s been very hard to get heavy equipment in to rebuild this.

“So it’s either going to be Friday or on the weekend.”

Saturday’s wild weather prompted more than 2000 calls for assistance to emergency services, with downed trees and powerlines the most common problem.

Disruptions to public transport services and traffic light outages were also reported on Sunday.

Malinauskas said workers in the emergency services sector had been “absolutely smashed” with calls for assistance over the weekend.

The State Emergency Management Committee is due to meet today to further coordinate the storm response.

List of SA public school closures on Tuesday:

• Aberfoyle Park Campus Preschool
• Belair Jean Bonython Kindergarten
• Bellevue Heights Primary School
• Blackwood High School
• Blackwood Primary School
• Blackwood Kindergarten
• Clarendon Kindergarten
• Clarendon Primary School
• Coromandel Valley Kindergarten
• Coromandel Valley Primary School
• Craigburn Primary School
• Eden Hills Kindergarten
• Eden Hills Primary School
• Edwardstown Primary School
• Hawthorndene Kindergarten
• Hawthorndene Primary School
• Kangarilla Primary School
• Marden Senior College
• McLaren Flat Primary School
• Morphett Vale East Kindergarten
• Morphett Vale Primary School and Preschool
• Reynella Kindergarten
• Upper Sturt Primary School