The severe thunderstorm which hit the state on Saturday, November 12 leaving 163,000 people without power also knocked over a transmission tower in Tailem Bend – disconnecting the electricity interconnector between South Australia and Victoria and cutting SA off from the National Electricity Market.

The toppled transmission tower has disrupted the flow of electricity out of South Australia, although the state has so far managed to avoid a blackout caused by too much power in the system, according to the state government.

Works to install a temporary transmission tower to restore power flows have been underway over the last week and were initially expected to be completed by Friday or over the weekend.

But the interconnector’s operator, ElectraNet, said more severe weather over the weekend has prevented power flows from being fully restored.

“Late Saturday (19 Nov), we were able to restore power flow to Victoria, at a reduced rate, through one of the temporary interconnector circuits,” the company said in a statement on Sunday.

“Works are continuing to restore both circuits, which are now expected to be complete on Tuesday due to the unfavourable weather conditions experienced over the weekend.”

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued another severe wind warning today for the Adelaide Metropolitan, Mount Lofty Ranges, Yorke Peninsula, Mid North, Kangaroo Island, Murraylands, Upper South East, Lower South East and parts of Flinders and Riverland districts.

⚠️ Severe Weather Warning ⚠️for damaging winds continues across parts of #SouthAustralia, including #Adelaide. Winds are expected to ease gradually during today. Keep up to date with warnings: https://t.co/5wxFrWeCue pic.twitter.com/yjyLjYHcPU

— Bureau of Meteorology, South Australia (@BOM_SA) November 20, 2022

The warning is for winds averaging 50 to 70km/h with peak gusts of up to 100km/h possible in coastal areas.

Showers and isolated thunderstorms are also forecast for the Lower South East district.

As of 7:15am today, there are 14 power outages across the state affecting 456 SA Power Networks customers.

The majority of the outages are concentrated in the Riverland which was hit by more severe weather over the weekend.

The region is currently preparing for a River Murray flooding event with predicted daily flows of up to 175GL in December.

SA Power Networks said on Facebook that “additional crews are heading to the Riverland following some extreme weather… causing a number of outages”.

“We will be working as efficiently as possible to restore electricity supply in the area as soon as safely possible,” SA Power Networks said.

SAPN last week estimated around 3200 homes in the Riverland will have their electricity disconnected during the peak of the flooding event.

The state government says it has now secured 1.5 million sandbags to help the Riverland prepare for floods, with 200,000 to fly into Adelaide on November 24 followed by an additional 168,000 on November 28.

There remains a “moderate” chance River Murray flow could reach 200GL day.