On 14 November 1979 Port Broughton sustained damage from a line of ferocious storms that hit south-eastern South Australia. Very strong winds and hail ruined solid brick houses, holiday shacks and caravans. Cars were pushed sideways along the road and pine trees up to 30 m tall were uprooted.

There was no loss of life during the event which was considered amazing. Eleven people were injured requiring hospital admission and 60 others required hospital treatment.

While Port Broughton incurred the most damage, other areas were also affected. Destruction was felt from the mid north to northern Adelaide Plains. Clare experienced severe damage. Houses lost their roofs and sheds were demolished in the high winds. Likewise the northern suburbs of Adelaide saw houses unroofed and trees blown over in areas such Salisbury North, Parafield Gardens, and Munno Para.

Agriculture was severely impacted with crops damaged, glass houses broken, grape vines stripped, storage tanks squashed, orchards destroyed and many farmers' livelihoods, built up over many years, were lost within ten minutes.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology Regional Forecasting Centre, the thunderstorm triggered by the trough line that extended across Yorke Peninsula moved over Port Broughton and produced destructive winds. The winds at all levels through the atmosphere were very strong. A thunderstorm is classified as severe if it produces wind gusts of 90 km per hour of more. On this day gusts were much higher with reports of 135 km per hour to 160 km per hour. Isolated large hail coming from very cold air high above the earth's surface was rapidly transported to the surface by downdrafts and accompanied the thunderstorms associated with the trough immediately to the east causing damage to some of Adelaide’s northern suburbs.

The Insurance Council of Australia estimated the 1979 damage at $10 million, with the 2011 normalised cost of $92 million.