Heartfelt tributes have been shared for a motorcyclist who died after reportedly losing his footing and being swept into floodwaters in the southern Flinders Ranges on Sunday, amid torrential rain across SA.
Darran Hyman’s friends and family say the 47-year-old had been on a group ride in memory of his late father Trevor when he died.
“We already lost dad, and through all the pain, we had each other,” his sister Kylie wrote on social media.
“The space is now empty where you left, it’s dark and cold.”
Mr Hyman has been remembered as a loving father, husband, brother and friend. (Supplied: Kylie Foley)
Mr Hyman’s death came almost exactly two years after the death of his father, who had been riding a motorcycle when he hit a kangaroo and was killed.
“All I have left to keep going is believing that you found each other and I will always hold your memories and legacies close to my heart,” Mr Hyman’s sister wrote.
Emergency services were called to Eurelia on the RM Williams Way about 30 kilometres north of Orroroo, in the southern Flinders, about 9:30am.
Police said Mr Hyman drowned and “was sadly found deceased”.
Yanyarrie publican Gary Lowe told ABC News the motorcyclists had started their ride from his pub and were being cautious of the wet weather.
Darran Hyman and his late father Trevor shared a love of motorcycles. (Supplied: Kylie Foley)
He said they had a vehicle cross the causeway first to check the water levels and give them the all clear before the motorcyclists attempted to cross.
Mr Lowe said a rider had safely travelled over the causeway at Fodgen’s Creek in Carrieton just a few minutes prior to Mr Hyman.
“He thought it was safe,” he said.
“The rivers weren’t running that high.”
He said that as Mr Hyman was riding, the bike lost traction and fell into the causeway, with Darran and other riders in the group then attempting to strap the motorcycle and retrieve it.
Mr Lowe said that Mr Hyman lost his footing and slipped into the causeway as they were trying to retrieve his bike, and said reports that Mr Hyman was swept into the water while riding were incorrect.
Mr Hyman’s sister Kylie said she could not “even begin to process this, how to grip the reality, or fathom where or what to do from here”.
“I keep looking at your pictures and feel my heart breaking over and over again, because part of me still can’t accept that you are really gone,” she wrote.
“Your wife, your kids, your mum, your friends and me need you in our lives … please be in peace, please be with dad.”
Heavy rain in Appila in the Mid North. (ABC News: Arj Ganesan)
Big rainfall totals recorded in west and north
Parts of South Australia were deluged over the weekend, with heavy rain cutting off regional roads.
While the highest official total over three days was around 175 millimetres, the weather bureau said, farmers on the West Coast reported receiving significantly more than that, and heavy falls were also recorded in north-eastern districts.
Bella Zito says several roads had been flooded in her area, and also paid tribute to Mr Hyman. (ABC News: Arj Ganesan)
Bella Zito, from Appila in the Mid North, had been trying to drop off supplies to her grandmother in Tarcowie, but was prevented from doing so by flooding.
“We went through multiple ways to check if we could cross and it would’ve been about three or four feet of water deep and just moving so fast,” she said.
Ms Zito also expressed her sadness following the death of Mr Hyman.
“[It’s] heartbreaking to hear that someone’s lost their life during the rain. The rain is a miracle for the farmers but to hear that someone has lost their life is absolutely heartbreaking,” she said.
A truck driver was winched from floodwaters near Yunta on Sunday. (Supplied: LifeFlight)
On Sunday, a truck driver was rescued from floodwaters on the Barrier Highway near Yunta, with an interstate LifeFlight crew retrieving the stranded man from the cabin of the vehicle.
“A LifeFlight rescue crewman was winched down to the roof of the truck and the driver climbed out of the cabin and was secured into a rescue strop,” LifeFlight said in a statement.
The crew had been supporting the New South Wales SES with flood-related rescues when it was tasked to help in SA.
Review after lightning leads to hospital humidity
Adelaide had been warned to batten down ahead of the weekend storms.
The weather bureau said the bulk of the rain passed north of the city.
The weather did, however, cause problems at Flinders Medical Centre, with a lightning strike on Saturday affecting air conditioning in the hospital’s operating theatres, leading to increased humidity levels impacting some sterile equipment and theatre consumables.
SA Health chief executive Robyn Lawrence said two emergency theatres were back up and running on Monday afternoon, while surgeries scheduled at the hospital would continue to be impacted on Tuesday.
“We will be undertaking an independent review both of the Flinders service but also I’m liaising with my colleagues in the eastern states where they have, on average, much higher humidity, just to see whether we’ve got any lessons we can take from them to try and minimise the risk of this happening again,” she said.
A faulty air conditioner sensor was determined to be the reason some of the weather observations were not available on the Bureau of Meteorology app or website during the rain event on Saturday.
In a statement on Monday, the bureau said the faulty sensor caused overheating and damaged a physical server, which was restored by Saturday evening.
Heavy rain fell over parts of the west, north and east. (ABC News: Arj Ganesan)
‘Widespread’ rainfall across state’s north
Meteorologist Daniel Sherwin-Simpson said there were “very widespread” and “significant” three-day totals well in excess of 100mm in the northern parts of the state.
“It was really sort of the Eyre Peninsula and the eastern districts, as well as up through the Flinders and Gammon Ranges that saw the highest totals,” he told ABC Radio Adelaide.
He said the highest falls over three days included 175 millimetres at Yunta, 150mm at Minnipa, 147mm at Arcoona Bluff, 111mm at Ceduna and 108mm at Wudinna.
Water covers one of Mr Nicholls’s paddocks. (Supplied: Mario Nicholls)
But farmers reported even higher falls than that — Mario Nicholls from Chinta outside Ceduna said he had received 275mm since Friday afternoon.
“We had 25mm the weekend before so I’ve had 300mm in the seven days up ’til Sunday morning,” he told ABC Eyre Peninsula.
“My [annual] district average here is about 300mm so we’ve had that and we’ve just hit March.”
Mr Nicholls said while the rain had brought fences down, there had not been much damage to infrastructure.
“Big rains like this are probably once-in-ten-year events,” he said.
“Most people along the north here have had about 150mm-plus — my brother had about the same as me. I’ve not really heard of anywhere in Eyre Peninsula that’s had below four inches, especially at this end of the woods.”