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.

WA Energy Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said it was "one of the most powerful storm systems that we've experienced in a number of decades".

Flooding and damaging winds on Saturday night were followed by a second wild storm last night, disrupting plans across the WA Day long weekend and causing some flights into Perth Airport to be diverted.

Cyclone-strength winds were recorded in some areas, including Cape Naturaliste where there was a gust of 135 kilometres per hour, as trees were toppled and fences blown over.

An apartment block was severely damaged in South Bunbury, with roofing torn off the building and windows smashed.

A warning was issued for residents in nearby streets to stay inside as the storm passed overnight.

Another apartment building in the coastal Perth suburb of Cottesloe had part of its roof torn off, damaging nearby properties.

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

Storm warnings remain current across a large swathe of the state, from the Mid West Gascoyne through to the Great Southern, and including the Perth metropolitan area.

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services 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 47,000 customers who have been cut off across WA, down from around 60,000, with more than 250 storm-related outages in the South West.

Western Power estimated most outages would be resolved by around 6:30pmtonight,but 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 head of operational maintenance Brett Hovingh said.

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

There were 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 today.

Storms add to beach erosion  

The wild weather has worsened erosion at Port Beach, near Fremantle, and Lancelin, on the state's Mid West coast.

Lancelin Sands Hotel owner Glen Trebilcock estimated the beachfront had lost about 45 metres of sand over the last year, with 8 to 10 metres taken by the latest storms. 

"Yesterday the dunes at the north of town lost, if I had to hazard a guess, a good 20 tonne of sand," he said.

"It looked like somebody was standing up the top with a big air pump blowing [the sand] over the caravan park.

"The caravan park now looks like Mount Hotham [ski resort] on the first day of winter."

Port Beach, which has been progressively eroded in recent decades, also appears to have suffered further erosion, with wire fencing that had been installed to protect sand banks ripped up.

Damage assessed, flights diverted

As of this morning, much of the damage in the South West had been cleared, with emergency crews cleaning up fallen trees across Bunbury and Busselton.

While last night's storm hit Busselton and surrounding communities with near record-breaking winds, the city and wider region appear to have escaped widespread damage.

The wind and rain toppled trees and left debris strewn across roads, with long weekend travellers urged to be cautious as they make the trip home to Perth.

Four flights had to be diverted to Kalgoorlie-Boulder Airport overnight because of strong winds at Perth Airport.

A Virgin flight from Karratha made two failed attempts to land at Perth before being diverted, as did a TransNusa Aviation flight from Denpasar.

The TransNusa passengers were not allowed off their aircraft during the delay as Kalgoorlie-Boulder Airport does not have customs facilities. 

Two Qantas flights, one from Sydney and another from Brisbane, were diverted directly to Kalgoorlie-Boulder Airport before eventually landing in Perth. 

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."

May wind records were also broken at Busselton Jetty (120km/h), Garden Island (106km/h), Mandurah (104km/h) and Dwellingup (98km/h). 

A severe weather warning remains in place for people in Eucla and parts of South East Coastal districts.

The BOM said an intense low-pressure system was moving east along the southern coast, bringing damaging wind gusts up to 90km/h, with winds expected to ease to night.

A coastal hazard warning has also been issued for an area from Windy Harbour to Israelite Bay, with seafarers advised to be wary of abnormally high tides.