Tree crashes down like a 'freight train' as wild weather hits SA

State Emergency Service volunteers responded to more than 70 calls for help from midnight, and we’re preparing for an even busier night ahead today.

Adelaide resident Ros had a tree came crashing down, nearly wiping out her home.

Fortunately she was safe inside the Parkside house.

“She describes it as a freight train coming through, the gust of wind was just huge and it’s just obviously taken out the tree,”  Ros’ daughter Layla said.

“To be honest she’s been really lucky, because it has done a bit of damage but it could’ve been a lot worse.”

A pipe gave way at Marsden, raining debris down on cars and prompting an investigation into the shifting soil.

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Cherry producers said they had been crushed by the conditions.

“It does look like perhaps as high as 50 per cent of fruit might be damaged in a rain event like this,” Grant Piggot said.

From the West Coast across the Eyre and Yorke Peninsulas and into the Mount Lofty ranges, December’s rainfall hit records, forecasters said.

“To put it in context for Adelaide, our average December rainfall is 25.9 millimetres but we’ve had about 38 millimetres in the last 24-48 hours,” Simon Tincke from the Bureau of Meteorology said.

The weather bureau said the strong wind, combined with rainfall over the past few days, meant there there was likely to be more tree falls overnight and into tomorrow.  

That could bring risks to power supplies, forcasters warned.