Quorn State Emergency Service

01/04/2026

As we come up to Easter and the usual influx of tourists into our area, I hope everyone stays safe.
I do wonder if we will see quite as many people as previous years travelling up through our Flinders Ranges Area to get to Wilpena and Rawnsley Park and other beautiful locations north.
We may or may not have volunteers around to assist with rescues and searches.

08/03/2026

Road Closures….
Flinders Ranges Way is Open between Quorn and Hawker but there are still a few patches of dodgy Bitumen that has moved especially just around the Willochra Bridge and the single lane area at the Boolcunda Overflow Crossing, so be mindful of the reduced speed limits there for safety purposes.

We also had a callout for a Vehicle Recovery on the Carling Road Area where the Carrieton Road meets Carling Road. The driver had driven off to the side of the road going around a muddy looking patch but found the side of the road was worse.
They tried to get themselves out with Maxx Tracks and a shovel but our wonderful Clay Soil was too good for them.
But also those people were from Whyalla and tried to find help via a page called Whyalla Vehicle Recovery, this page really helps in Quorn. I reminded them later via Facebook that if they really require assistance then they need to ring 000 and then the nearest SES Unit will get paged. Trying to contact us locally doesn’t work as we still have to be paged to respond.

Again for information on other Roads further North its necessary to go to DIT Roads Website for current Road Conditions or SAPOL information number for further information.
Drive Safely.

02/03/2026

ROAD CLOSURE FLINDERS RANGES WAY.

Just a reminder that the Road towards Hawker is still closed and if you look at the current photos these are the reasons, the Bitumen is extremely unstable and as you can see in the photos the white lines don’t line up now, part of the whole road has moved over. I have never seen that happen along this road ever before in my lifetime.

DIT has had to put mounds of Road Base across the Bridge Entrance to Physically Stop People Driving that way because the Road Closed Signs don’t Deter people from venturing out to have a look at the Creeks ETC.

We do go out occasionally in SES VEHICLES to check road conditions and try to update as much as we can on current road conditions, but we have to get the OK from our SES Paid Staff at The North Region HQ to do so.

SAPOL does do Regular Road Inspections as well.

Landholders can apparently venture out to tend to stock but they do so at their own risk and need to get exemptions with SAPOL anybody else going out for a sightseeing trip can be fined at the discretion of SAPOL.

Again Stay Safe and drive to Road Conditions and Heed Road Closure Signs.

Unit Manager Dave.

01/03/2026

Further Updates on Road Conditions.
@ 1420 : 01/03/2026.

Capowie Creek Crossing on the Wilmington Road is 500mm deep and flowing strongly.

Stony Creek at the Hawker Road is flowing strongly but supposeldy is on the other side of the Stop Sign which appears to many to just be a guide anyway.

Both Main Creek Crossings on the North Quorn Creek are flowing quickly, the Northern Crossing on Oval Road is the deepest and flowing the quickest.

Often its not so much the depth of the water but the intensity of the flow, plus what hazards that flow has deposited in the middle of the road.

Stay Safe and drive to the road conditions.

01/03/2026

Re: Flinders Ranges Way between Quorn and Hawker was CLOSED to all traffic at 1100hrs today due to the Boolcunda Creek Crossing being impassable, also several crossings in low lying areas are getting deep and running swiftly as well before that crossing.

One vehicle this morning was caught in the creek and was recovered and towed back luckily when the Boolcunda level rose quickly and caught the driver unawares. This was before the Road was closed again.

Quorn to Wilmington Road - Unsure of the Road conditions at present, waiting for updates.

Quorn to Port Augusta Road - Unsure of Road conditions at present, waiting for updates.

Please be mindful of Road Closure signs and Conditions that may change during the day. Due to the amount of rain we have already had the Roads and surrounding are fairly saturated and there is likely to be more runoff.

Unit Manager Dave

26/02/2026

Re: Road Closures
We as in the Quorn SES Unit cannot keep up with posting current information on Road Closures for our area and roads further north.
I strongly suggest that anyone wanting to or needing to travel into or through our Quorn Area and upto Leigh Creek or Wilpena Pound Directions firstly check for current road conditions on the Outback Roads Website.
@ dit.sa.gov.au
Then follow their links

25/02/2026

Just a reminder about the upcoming wet weather this weekend through to Monday, since these photos were taken yesterday we have stocked up on Sand and the Yellow Bins out the front of the Emergency Services Unit have plenty of Sandbags.

Please be PROACTIVE, if you believe you have some low lying areas that may flood and impact on buildings, come and fill your own Sandbags before the wet weather. You will need YOUR OWN SHOVEL and there is a yellow Sandbag stand at the area. We don’t leave a shovel out there as it may disappear.
Be mindful that each Sandbag is around 10kg when filled and they can be difficult to move.

Our SES members respond to many incidents during these Flood and Storm times and we may not be around to chase flood mitigation incidents.

Last weekend we were very busy recovering inconsiderate people who went around ROAD CLOSED SIGNS on different main roads and got bogged or just stranded between creeks, which many would’ve seen on the News I am sure.

So just to re-emphasise please be PROACTIVE,
CLEAN OUT your gutters and drains,
COLLECT some sandbags if you believe you will need them.

Stay Safe
Unit Manager Dave.

(PS:- I better lead by example and check our gutters and drains!)

22/02/2026

Some photos of the Boolcunda Overflow Road crossing which is more South of the Boolcunda. A family in a 4WD vehicle became stranded between the two crossings last night. The road to Hawker was closed but that didn’t stop too many. We 5 SES local personnel there plus 3 Local additional CFS personnel, 4 SES as part of a Swift Water Rescue Crew from Adelaide and Sapol.

There is a lot of damage to the road structure as you can see from the photos. The Bitumen has disappeared completely from most of the road or is badly lifted across most of the road plus the hole through the road was very deep and I couldn’t reach the bottom of the hole with a broom handle. The first photo shows how wide the crossing was when we first arrived and then by about 0130am the level had dropped enough for the underlying Concrete Road structure to be exposed and enough for us to walk the family across the crossing and then the father was able to drive their 4WD carefully across the crossing. There is only a very narrow area that anyone can drive across and even that has layers of lifted and broken Bitumen. It is very unsafe to drive across there unless its absolutely necessary and that is why the Road is still CLOSED.
DIT will need a lot of remedial work to that road to make it passable for trucks.

The two of us from SES that remained out at the incident to allow everyone else to go home and rest managed to get to bed by 0230am this morning, we had started responding to incidents at 1000am yesterday morning and did get home for a short time during the day to find dry clothing and find some food.
A big thank you to all of our local Emergency Services members who did respond during the day, we had three flooding salvage incidents to try and work out how to pump out storm water or to Sandbag Areas and redirect water ingress. We also responded to check out all of the roads out of Quorn several times during the day, The Wilmington Road has Areas of lost and lifted Bitumen at the Itali Itali Creek crossing and much debris across the road in many places, plus the Arden Vale Road has a lot of debris and damage to quite a few of the crossings.

So be extremely careful if you are going to drive these roads and that is exactly why the roads were closed, but as I posted previously Road Closed Signs don’t Stop too many people, many just drive around the ROAD CLOSED Signs and we end up having to rescue people.

SES Unit Manager.

22/02/2026

22/02/2026

If people are not aware we have had a significant amount of rain 70-90mm in various places around the Quorn Area.

The Hawker Road was cut and impassable at Stony Creek and Boolcunda Creek Crossings for a while today, now as of 1500 hrs as far as I know the road is passable.

The Wilmington Road was also damaged at Itali Itali Creek with The Bitumen being washed away at that double creek crossing.

Both roads had been closed by SAPOL for a while today but many people still went straight around the road closed signs and ignored them. There is a significant sized fine for disobeying Road Closed signs if SAPOL wishes to enforce that.

Many people go around to see the creeks in flood because it doesn’t happen all that often. But also people were continuing to travel through to Wilmington and crossed the Itali Itali Creek which has been badly undermined. We advised them from SES what the road conditions were and the dangers, we cannot stop people going through if they really insist on driving through, only SAPOL an DIT can do that. If people do get stuck and need assistance who will they call ??

We only had three calls for flooding assistance, two in town we responded to and one out of town towards Arden Vale and out past Argadels, we couldn’t get out to that callout.

See what happens if we get more rain, please be mindful if you are travelling around the area that there is still a lot of debris on the roads and in creek crossings that have recently been flooded.

Quorn SES

07/02/2026

Photos of the Boolcunda running this morning, not sure if it has gotten and deeper, the water for that creek comes from the Carrieton Creeks etc.
Also for your information there are several creek crossing up towards Leigh Creek that are getting difficult to cross due to the amount of rain in the area. The Brachina Creek was reported as being a hazard.
So if you are planning on travelling North today or tomorrow it would be advisable to contact Police for updated information on Road Conditions. Further rain is expected ib those areas tomorrow.
Take care when travelling and approach any creek crossings slowly and don’t take any chances with Water levels and you may not be able to see any hazards under the water, don’t take any chances with swift flowing water.
SES has sent Swift Water Rescue Crews up from Adelaide and they are somewhere in our area at present. They will he heading further North.
Unit Manager Dave.