Roof torn off in storm hurled 50 metres down street as wild weather lashes WA

Author : mamun Published: April 18, 2019

Updated

April 19, 2019 14:25:27

A severe cold front has brought damaging winds, heavy rainfall and plummeting temperatures to Perth and southern WA, with thousands of properties blacked out and the roof of one house ripped off.

Key points:

About 10,000 properties lost electricity as the wild weather hit south-west WA
The roof of a house in Alkimos was hurled about 50 metres down the road
The storm also whipped up a monster swell with more bad weather to come

Trees and powerlines were brought down as the system hit coastal areas about 1:00am overnight, delivering strong wind gusts of up to 90 kilometres per hour.

A two-storey home on Shorehaven Boulevard in Alkimos in Perth’s northern suburbs had its roof torn off and thrown about 50 metres down the road.

Photo:
The owners of the house in Perth’s north were left counting the cost of the storm. (Supplied: Night News)

Emergency services received a number of calls for help and were expecting more as the day continued.

About 10,000 properties lost electricity, with Western Power still working to restore services to more than 4,000 customers at midday, mostly in the towns of Toodyay and Mullewa.

Photo:
The bad weather brought down trees and powerlines as the cold front crossed the coast. (Supplied: Night News)

Other areas that were worst affected by power outages included the Perth suburbs of Duncraig, Riverton and Waterford, along with the towns of Seabird and Guilderton.

Heavy rainfall saw Bickley in Perth’s south-east receive 22.6 millimetres overnight, while Harvey in the South West region recorded the largest dump, with 33.4mm falling in its gauge before 5:00am.

External Link:

BOM WA tweet: Gif showing cold front moving over south-west WA

Monster swell set to increase

The storm has also whipped up a monster swell along the coast, with Cape Naturaliste and Albany recording wave heights of up to 5 metres early this morning.

The swell is expected to rise further throughout the day.

Photo:
Lifeguard patrols were in place at Trigg Beach in Perth as the swell picked up. (ABC News: James Carmody)

The leading edge of the cold front is heading inland over central areas, but following in its wake is a very cold and unstable air mass.

The Bureau of Meteorology has warned that Perth and the south-west of WA will continue to experience cold, wintry and potentially dangerous conditions throughout the day.

External Link:

A big swell bore down on Perth ahead of Good Friday.

It said a cold south-westerly flow coming off the ocean could lead to continued squally conditions, heavy showers, possible thunderstorms, the risk of small hail and potentially some snow flurries atop the Stirling Ranges in the Great Southern.

A raft of storm warnings remain in place across the state along with warnings for motorists to take care on the roads, particularly if caught up in Good Friday traffic.