Mother Nature belted the town with 45.2mm in the 24-hour period to 9am, February 28. Roxby Downs recorded just 7.2mm in the same period.

It was the highest February daily rainfall since 1973 when 62.5mm fell and the last rain exceeding this amount was 47.2mm in November 1998.

Andamooka Progress and Opal Miners Association (APOMA) chairperson and local resident Peter Allen estimated 300 cubic metres of silt was removed from the bitumen the following morning.

The Andamooka Opal Hotel was partially flooded and had to close the next day to clean up.

“The reason for the damage caused by the rains … was mainly that 35 or 40mm fell in about 20 minutes.

“With so much water, creeks backed up further raising their height.”

Mr Allen said numerous homes had flood damage but at this stage could not estimate the extent of property damage.

“Individual property owners are responsible for their cleanups,” Mr Allen said.

“The silt was removed from the bitumen the following morning but road repairs have been waiting until the threat of further rains subside.

“APOMA has applied for a grant from SGIC to carry out flood mitigation works.”

Mr Allen praised the Department of Transport, Energy and Infrastructure for its assistance and believed it had been “unfairly targeted” in other regions.

Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Paul Lainio told The Roxby Downs Sun the flood was a “real stand out event”.

“Generally you need 30mm of rain in an hour to produce local flooding, the rainfall rate recorded in Andamooka fits the criteria that it was well and truly affected by severe thunderstorms,” Mr Lainio said.

“This rainfall rate has an average recurrence interval of about once every five years.”

A severe thunderstorm warning was issued on February 27, which included the Andamooka area.

The bureau recorded about 5000 lightning strikes across South Australia in the 24 hours to 9am, February 28.

Most occurred during the afternoon of February 27 and stretched from the Northwest Pastoral to the south of the Northeast Pastoral regions.