Western Australia hit by 'powerful-once-in-a-decade' storm
A Scarborough home and car felt the full force of today’s storm. Credit: Simon Santi/The West Australian
About 50,000 homes and businesses were without power across Western Australia state on Sunday as a severe storm hit the the coast and brought wind gusts of more than 100 kilometres (60 miles) per hour, officials said.
Conditions were expected to worsen overnight as the storm progressed.
Jon Broomhall, acting assistant commissioner of Western Australia's department of fire and emergency services, called the storm "a once-in-a-decade-type system."
"Normally our storms come from the southwest, and this will come from the northwest, so it will test people's buildings, sheds and all those unsecured items, so we're asking people to secure property and make sure everything loose is tied down," he said,
A Bureau of Meteorology official, James Ashley, said the weather formation was "dynamic and complex," as a system from Cyclone Mangga in the southern Indian Ocean interacted with a cold front.
n the Perth metropolitan area, electricity supply to about 37,000 homes and businesses was impacted by the storm. A power company said some households should expect to remain without electricity overnight, particularly in places where it was not safe for crews to repair the network.
The worst of the weather was due to hit Perth later Sunday evening and Monday morning, and not ease until Monday afternoon.
"In a broad area, the southwest of the state will be hit really severely overnight, tonight and into tomorrow," Ashley said. "Really quite severe conditions will still be experienced in Perth tomorrow morning."
There were reports of damage to buildings, homes, fences, electricity infrastructure and trees across Perth as the storm front moved south.
Winds gusting up to 210km/h were expected near the country's iron ore producing heartland of the Pilbara, moving south towards the state capital of Perth overnight and tomorrow.
"Really strong winds are already being felt and they are whipping up a lot of dust. Those conditions are moving southward and are expected to hit Perth later today," said Bureau of Meteorology WA state manager James Ashley.
"We are expecting peak wave heights, particularly on Monday of over eight metres...It's unlikely to significantly ease in Perth until Monday afternoon," he told a press briefing.