Australia Weather News

The strongest weather system to hit Western Australia's south west in 49 years has left a trail of destruction in its wake, after cyclone-strength winds tore roofs from buildings, uprooted trees and increased costal erosion along beaches.

Emergency services received hundreds of calls for assistance from what Energy Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson described as "one of the most powerful storm systems that we've experienced in a number of decades".

The Bureau of Meteorology said it was the most powerful system to hit the state's south-west in almost five decades, with Perth copping the brunt of the damage.

About 160,000 households lost power at least once during the wild weather, with thousands without electricity on Monday evening.

Flooding and damaging winds on Saturday night were followed by a second wild storm on Sunday 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 a gust of 135 kilometres per hour at Cape Naturaliste.

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.

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.

Huge task to restore power

Western Power is working to restore power tocustomers who have been cut off across WA, and said the restoration effort had been an enormous task.

The State Emergency Service also received more than 10 times the number of requests for help it usually receives for storms.

"We understand there's more than 800 for this storm," Emergency Services Minister Paul Papalia said.

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.

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."

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.

Flights diverted

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, including a TransNusa flight from Bali and Qantas flights from Sydney and Brisbane. 

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.

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

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 Monday night.

There were warnings in place early on Monday for large parts of the state including the Midwest Gascoyne, South West, Perth Metropolitan, Goldfields-Midlands and Great Southern areas.

Authorities cancelled the warning after 4:24pm when the BOM confirmed the low pressure system had moved further into the Great Australian Bight.