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The full force of mother nature is being felt in Western Australia as emergency services deal with damaging wind gusts from a severe cold front that is also dumping heavy rain in Perth and the south-west of the state.
A severe weather warning is in place for people across the South West region, including Perth, as well as parts of the Great Southern and central Wheatbelt.
The front crossed the coast late Thursday afternoon and has seen wind gusts of 113 kilometres per hour in the farming town of Gnowangerup and at Cape Naturaliste on the coast.
More than 75 millimetres of rain has been dumped on Vasse and more than 69mm at nearby Busselton, with locals reporting the closure of some streets due to flooding.
Perth officially recorded 29.2mm of rain to 9am today, with Swanbourne receiving 41.4mm and Rottnest Island receiving 43mm.
Damaging gusts not over
The Bureau of Meteorology is warning the heavy rain and damaging winds are set to continue today.
Duty forecaster Matt Boterhoven said another deep low pressure system was approaching the state's South West region.
"Residents from Lancelin, north of Perth, to Albany on the state's south coast can expect heavy rain and wind gusts of 100 kilometres an hour throughout the day," he said.
The bureau is warning of a slight chance of dangerous gusts of more than 125 kilometres an hour in coastal areas from Bunbury to Walpole that could cause destruction to homes and property on Friday afternoon and evening.
High tides could also flood low lying areas as far as Albany and Hopetoun, and damaging surf conditions are also likely.
"The passage of the low is expected to produce conditions windier than a typical cold front and is likely to produce the kind of weather that is only seen around twice a year over the SW corner of WA," the bureau said in its warning.
The State Emergency Service has received more than 60 calls for help.
A spokeswoman said the calls came in late yesterday from Perth and Busselton, but the damage to homes and property overnight had extended to dozens of towns across the Wheatbelt and the south-west of the state.
Widespread blackouts
Western Power said its crews worked through the night and staff were continuing to respond to a large number of reported hazards created by the powerful storm.
"The storm's winds … have brought down trees and blown debris into powerlines, creating hazards including fallen powerlines and damaged insulators across the network," a spokesman said.
He said Western Power's focus was on making those hazards safe and restoring power to customers.
At the peak of the storm about 11,000 customers were without power, but that number has since been reduced to about 6,000.
Approximately 2,100 of those are in the metropolitan area, with the remainder in the network's south.
The spokesman said Western Power had also been asked by fire authorities to "de-energise" parts of the network around Albany area due to a number of large bushfires burning in the area.
The utility is also urging customers to keep away from fallen power lines, to call Western Power on 13 13 51 to report damage and keep at least eight metres away from any such hazard.
Topics: storm-event, weather, wa
First posted