SA Power Networks is calling in interstate field resources to assist in reconstruction and recovery from yesterday's intense storm which has damaged electricity infrastructure across South Australia.

Current estimates suggest nearly 100,000 customers have had their electricity supply impacted by extreme weather over the weekend.

On Saturday, South Australia experienced more than 423,000 lightning strikes between midnight and 6pm, wind gusts were recorded at 106 kmh and residents have reported a mini cyclone.

Falling trees, lightning strikes and high winds resulted in widespread outage reports and nearly 500 reports of wires down. Outages have been reported across the State from the far west through to the eastern border with New South Wales and Victoria.

The Eyre Peninsula, Yorke Peninsula, Mid North, Adelaide and the metropolitan area, Fleurieu, Mt Lofty ranges, Murraylands, Riverland and parts of the South East have all been affected.

“Rebuilding and repairing the network and restoring power will continue into tomorrow and potentially beyond,” said Paul Roberts, Head of Corporate Affairs.

“Safety of the community is our first priority in these events and it is a massive job to investigate these wire down reports and ensure they are made safe.”

Mr Roberts said apart from mobilising all available resources in SA Power Networks and its contractors to work on the storm response (including volunteers to stand by downed power lines), additional field crews had been sought from NSW.

“Essential Energy has agreed to mobilise up to 80 personnel today to travel to SA to assist us with ongoing restoration work and we thank them for their support. They will provide an additional important reconstruction resource and help us manage fatigue issues for our crews who have been working 16-hour shifts over the weekend.”

Mr Roberts said SA Power Networks understood long delays in restoring power were frustrating.

“We are doing everything we can to respond to what is an extreme event and thank the many customers who have reached out on social media to thank crews for their efforts.”

Mr Roberts said customers without power this morning should plan for an extended power outage.

“We won’t be able to provide accurate estimates of power restoration times until crews get to site and are able to make an assessment of the cause and the work needed to restore power.

“We recommend that, where necessary, customers should consider staying with friends and family until they receive a more accurate update of a likely restoration time via our SMS system. Customers can also check our website at www.sapowernetworks.com.au.”