Australia Weather News

Emergency workers have used a little olive oil and a harness to rescue a 12-year-old boy who became trapped about 15 metres underground in a cave at Naracoorte in the south-east of South Australia.

It took rescuers about five hours to reach the Adelaide student after they chipped some rocks away to clear a passage back to the surface.

The student was on a trip with others from a private school and was unhurt after his ordeal, authorities said.

Emergency crews across SA have been kept busy since late yesterday, as strong winds brought down trees and cut power supplies to part of Eyre Peninsula.

The upper Spencer Gulf region was hit by some of the fiercest weather overnight, with wind gusts of more than 100 kilometres per hour in parts.

State Emergency Service (SES) duty officer Ian Bonython said there had been about 120 call-outs for help, quite a number in the Port Pirie area.

"Most of those have been for trees or branches that have come down across roads or on structures," he said.

"We haven't had any reports of any major damage —we've also had some strong winds in the Whyalla, Port Augusta area as well."

Trees also came down in parts of the Adelaide Hills and in the state's south-east.

SES state duty manager Ian Bonython said the heavy rain throughout spring was continuing to be a problem.

"When we have the saturation of the ground with the water that we've had in the past month, [it means] when we do get these significant winds it's quite easy for the trees to uproot," he said.

SA Power Networks said more than 160 properties at Cowell on Eyre Peninsula remained without power this morning and it was hoped to reconnect them by mid-afternoon at the latest.

The weather bureau said a band of overnight rain was now clearingand Adelaide was likely to hit a maximum temperature of about 16 degrees Celsius, far short of yesterday's high above 30C.