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Perth weather: Thunderstorm lashes city overnight as cold front moves across WA

Lauren Price, Rhianna Mitchell and Troy de RuyterPerthNow
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Perth has been hit with heavy rain and strong winds overnight as a cold front sweeps across the south of the State.
Camera IconPerth has been hit with heavy rain and strong winds overnight as a cold front sweeps across the south of the State. Credit: The west australian

Perth has been hit with its first major winter thunderstorm, with parts of the city lashed with ferocious winds and hail as a cold front moves across the State’s south-west.

In the 24 hours before 9am on Wednesday, more than 25mm of rain was reported in the Perth metropolitan area.

The Hills also got much-needed rain, with Bickley getting 35mm, while Mandurah recording 20mm.

Meanwhile, Bunbury got smashed, copping 73mm.

Trampolines, bins, branches and powerlines were downed — the carnage evident on Wednesday morning — after wind gusts lashed the city’s north and coastal zones.

Since 7pm on Tuesday, the state emergency service recorded more than 195 requests for assistance between Lancelin and Bunbury.

Most calls are related to water ingress, minor flooding, roof damage and downed trees.

A tree fell across a car on Stirling Highway.
Camera IconA tree fell across a car on Stirling Highway. Credit: Michael Wilson/The West Australian
Lightning strikes and hail around Perth this morning.
Camera IconLightning strikes and hail around Perth this morning. Credit: X formerly Twitter/ Tegan Melhuish/X formerly Twitter/ Tegan Melhuish

By 4pm on Wednesday, a further 3.6mm of rain was recorded in the Perth metro area.

The most destruction has been recorded in Perth’s south — Rockingham, Safety Bay, Baldivis and Waikiki.

A giant waterspout was captured on video by Dennis Johnson on Tuesday afternoon at Cape Naturaliste — with The Bureau of Meteorology saying it was erected due to a cold front sweeping across the south west.

“Winds inside the waterspout can be faster than 100 km/h, and they can do great damage to boats at sea,” they said.

One caller, Russ, told radio 6PR that a big established palm tree in Rockingham had been uprooted.

“The gusts are coming from Garden island straight through to Rockingham,” he said.

Another caller, Shane in Waikiki, said he was up at 3.30am after torrential rain flooded his house.

“Pea-sized hail .. on the add-on room ... and collapsed part of the ceiling and filled the back room up and flooded all the sofa and everything,” he said.

“I went outside and you would swear you were in England — there just hail built up against absolutely everything.”

A trampoline was overturned in a backyard.
Camera IconA trampoline was overturned in a backyard. Credit: X formerly Twitter/X formerly Twitter
Hail hit Perth this morning.
Camera IconHail hit Perth this morning. Credit: X formerly Twitter/X formerly Twitter

Rottnest Island recorded wind gusts of up to 111km/h in the early hours, while Swanbourne had 100km/h winds.

Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Jessica Lingard said the cold front would have come as a “shock” to some after an unseasonably dry autumn.

“Falls were around what we were expecting but around the south-western parts of the State, we did see more rainfall than expected,” she said.

“It was a season-breaking event for the metro area and for some areas in the farming regions.

“But as we head further north to the Dalwallinu area, we haven’t seen as much rainfall.

“It’s not super late in the season to see a front like this but it is a bit of a shock to us because we didn’t see that lead-up throughout autumn as it was quite a dry season.

“We generally see at least one or two cold fronts each month in the winter season.”

The bureau has forecast that up to 50mm of rain could fall from Tuesday to Thursday.

Hail woke this X social media user.
Camera IconHail woke this X social media user. Credit: X formerly Twitter/X formerly Twitter

Ms Lingard said that a second, more severe storm was set to bring another deluge on the weekend.

“There is a second cold front coming through this weekend which does look wetter than what we’ve just seen,” she said.

“The front coming on the weekend looks stronger and it will push further inland into the Gascoyne.”

Between 20mm and 40mm is forecast to hit Perth on Saturday, with up to another 10mm on Sunday.

The long-term forecast has intermittent showers across the metropolitan area for most of next week.

A severe thunderstorm warning remained in place for southern parts of WA on Wednesday afternoon, with damaging winds and rain expected to hit the areas surrounding Albany and Esperance.

BoM hazard preparedness and response WA manager James Ashley said a return to a more normal winter weather pattern would bring potentially destructive winds and flooding.

Perth areas got hit by hail.
Camera IconPerth areas got hit by hail. Credit: Facebook/Facebook

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