Australia Weather News

South Australia is bracing for several days of severe winter weather, with flood alerts, gale warnings and road closures for areas including Adelaide and the neighbouring Mount Lofty Ranges.

Forecast heavy rain for Adelaide and the hills region over the weekend prompted the State Emergency Service (SES) to provide sandbags for residents in flood-prone areas.

Sandbags will be available again on Sunday from six depots.

Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) forecaster Matt Collopy said they were set to be the most severe conditions so far this winter.

"It is certainly a very wet and windy weekend expected. There's a series of fronts to move through … a really strong one moving through on Saturday evening and into Sunday," he said.

"This is certainly the strongest one we've seen this winter."

Heavy rainfall, thunderstorms and even some hail are expected, Mr Collopy said.

"I think the weekend weather will keep us pretty busy," he said.

"We're expecting 20-60 millimetres generally across southern parts of SA and the possibility of 60-100mm in the Mount Lofty Ranges over two or three days."

He warned localised rainfall might even reach 120mm in parts.

Destructive wind gusts of up to 125 kilometres per hour are forecast near the front, which is expected to pass over Kangaroo Island on Saturday afternoon.

Flood risk in Oakbank, Verdun area

Some waterways in the hills might rise rapidly, in areas around Oakbank and Verdun, the forecaster said.

"All SA coastal waters have strong wind or gale warnings current; there's also a warning to sheep graziers," Mr Collopy said.

The Transport Department said heavy rain would increase the risk of rockfalls in the Adelaide Hills and it had closed Gorge Road from Saturday until at least Monday, between Playford Bridge and Torrens Hill Road.

It said drivers could detour via Lower North East, North East and Tippet roads to reach Cudlee Creek.

Many thousands of South Australian football fans are expected to converge on Adelaide Oval on Sunday afternoon for the AFL Showdown between the Crows and Port Adelaide.

"They should definitely take some wet weather gear," Mr Collopy said.

"There's a high probability of showers across the Adelaide area and for the Showdown on Sunday arvo.

"We're going to be looking at 12-13 degrees Celsius with a little bit of wind chill added in there, [so] it could feel a lot cooler."

The bureau said the winter weather should improve by about Tuesday or Wednesday.