More than 60,000 homes and businesses are without power across Western Australia as a severe storm tracks down the coast, bringing wind gusts of more than 100 kilometres per hour.
Key points:
- More than 60,000 properties are without power across Western Australia
- Winds of more than 100 kilometres per hour have been recorded in Perth, Geraldton and Dunsborough
- Conditions are expected to worsen as the storm progresses down the coast
In the Perth metropolitan area, electricity supply to about 44,000 homes and businesses were impacted by the storm.
13,000 of the affected properties were in WA’s Mid West region, including the port city of Geraldton.
Meanwhile, the entire town of Margaret River lost power as the storm moved further south.
The worst-affected suburbs include Beckenham, East Cannington, Kenwick, Bayswater, Bassendean, Mirrabooka, Dianella, and Malaga, along with the hills suburbs of Sawyers Valley and Mount Helena.
Western Power said some households should expect to remain without electricity overnight, particularly in places where it was not safe for crews to repair the network.
More than 300 storm-related calls for assistance were made to emergency services across the entire west-coast of the state from Kalbarri to Margaret River.
Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) WA manager James Ashley said the weather formation was “dynamic and complex”, as a system from ex-Tropical Cyclone Mangga interacted with a cold front.
Perth and South West to be ‘hit severely’
A deep low pressure system formed off the south-west corner of the state on Sunday.
The worst of the weather was due to hit Perth on Sunday evening and Monday morning, and not ease until the afternoon.
“In a broad area, the south-west of the state will be hit really seve