Australia Weather News

Tens of thousands of homes are without power and emergency services have received hundreds of calls for assistance after a series of powerful storms tore through the southern half of Western Australia over the weekend.

Flooding and damaging winds on Saturday night were followed by a second wild storm on Sunday evening, disrupting plans across the WA Day long weekend.

Cyclone-strength winds were recorded in some areas, including Cape Naturaliste where there was a gust of 135 kilometres per hour.

An apartment building in the coastal Perth suburb of Cottesloe had its roof torn off, damaging nearby properties, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) confirmed.

Residents near the Hawkstone Street apartments have been warned to stay indoors, with authorities warning of the risk of roofing materials and debris from the site becoming airborne in strong winds.

A storm warning remains current across a large swathe of the state, from the Mid West Gascoyne through to the Great Southern, and including the Perth metropolitan area.

DFES said despite the storms easing, conditions remained hazardous and people should stay away from damaged buildings, fallen trees and powerlines.

Rainfall in Perth eased overnight, with only 4 millimetres recorded.

But the western end of Riverside Drive in Perth's CBD has been closed due to flooding.

Enormous task to restore power

Western Power is working to restore power to 69,000 customers who have been cut off across WA, with more than 250 storm-related outages in the South West.

Western Power estimated most outages would be resolved by around 6:30pmbut said the restoration effort would be an enormous task.

"There are about 1,300 incidents we’ve got on the network at the moment, so it’s definitely not a small event," Western Power's head of operational maintenance Brett Hovingh said.

The State Emergency Service has also received nearly 700 requests for help.

There are reports of fallen trees, power lines and debris on the roads across Perth and the southern and western coastlines, and Main Roads is urging motorists to drive with caution.

Fremantle's WA Day festival has been cancelled due to a forecast of continued strong winds in the metropolitan area on Monday.

Winds reach cyclone strength

Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) duty forecaster Jess Lingard said the 135km/h wind gust recorded at Cape Naturaliste was a May wind speed record for the area.

"That is pushing into category 2 cyclone strength, so very, very strong winds," she told 102.5 ABC Radio Perth.

"[Winds] have calmed down a little bit now, and as such the warning area looks a little bit different today."

A new severe weather warning has been issued for the Great Southern, Central Wheatbelt and southern Goldfields regions.

The BOM said an intense low-pressure system was moving east across that area, bringing destructive winds averaging up to 70km/h.

A coastal hazard warning has also been issued for an area from Northampton down to Esperance, with seafarers advised to be wary of gale-force westerly winds, elevated sea levels and powerful waves.

The BOM has warned of coastal flooding in low-lying areas between Jurien Bay and Israelite Bay.