Australia Weather News

Residents in the town of Harvey woke to the sound of huge hailstones crashing overhead, as the region was lashed with two cold fronts over the weekend. 

Bee Brislin, who lives in Harvey, 139 kilometres south of Perth, said her patio was smashed with stones thicker than her fingers.

"The kids woke up thinking the windows were cracking open because the hail was so loud. It was incredible," she said.

"I went outside and our patio looks like there has been bullets rained through it."

Ms Brislin said some other residents were pelted with hail "the size of golf balls", which had caused significant car damage and covered the town in a sheet of ice.

"It looked like it had been snowing … it was surreal," she said.

It was part of the wild weather experienced across Australia over the weekend, with NSW experiencing its deepest snow in 20 years and parts of Queensland recording below-average temperatures and light snowfalls.

Historical coincidence

The hailstorm at Harvey on Sunday coincided with the 61st anniversary of an extreme downpour that forced the town to evacuate.

On August 3, 1964, the town was evacuated due to fear that the Harvey Weir would collapse as a result of an immense downpour.

Fearing the worst, police officers knocked on the doors of homes and directed them to the Harvey Golf Club and the high school to take shelter.

Residents were able to return to their homes a few days later when the storm had passed.

Longtime Harvey resident Graham Hough was five years old at the time.

"They [his parents] heard this ute go flying up the road with lights and sirens going. This bloke's come running out [saying] 'evacuate, evacuate. It's a national emergency,'" Mr Hough said.

"They got the kids, put us in a station wagon. Dad wasn't going to leave without his cattle dog, so we had to get the dog in and the cats and everything."

Ms Brislin said the coincidence of the latest storm falling on the same day as the evacuation was the "gossip of the town".

One-in-five-year weather event

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, the latest storms over the weekend were a once-in-five-year weather event.

BOM senior meteorologist Jessica Lingard said Cape Naturaliste recorded a wind gust of 115kph on Sunday, the second highest on record in August.

Meanwhile, she said Bunbury recorded a gust of 91kph, the third-highest on record in August.

Ms Lingard said the last time the South West copped wind that strong was three to four years ago.

"I think we can all agree that was a pretty wild weekend," she said.

"We did have those two cold fronts move through, the first on Saturday was more of a rainier system and then the one that came through yesterday was definitely the windier of the two."

Some of the highest rainfall levels in the South West over the last 72 hours included Northcliffe with 76 millimetres of rainfall, Carlotta with 64mm, Pemberton with 62mm and Ravenscliffe with 61mm, according to BOM.

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services said there were 179 call-outs for assistance statewide relating to roof damage, trees falling down and water ingress — 21 of which were in the South West.

In Perth, extreme winds damaged the roof of the IKEA building in Innaloo.

The store has been closed today while repairs are underway.

An IKEA spokesperson said the damage happened outside of opening hours, so no-one was injured.