Thousands of homes are without power across Western Australia’s south including Perth, after an intense storm crossed the coast overnight, but residents have been warned the worst of the weather is yet to come.
About 8,000 homes in the South West and a further 2,000 in the Perth metropolitan area were affected by the outages.
Western Power expects to restore services to most of the affected customers by Sunday afternoon.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services received 120 calls for assistance, with most coming from Perth for fallen trees, roof damage and water ingress.
A significant cold front swept through the region overnight, with Cape Leeuwin recording the strongest wind gust of 117 kilometres an hour just before 6am this morning.
Minor flooding
Busselton Airport recorded 51 millimetres of rain in the 24 hours to 9am on Sunday, while Perth totalled 19.6mm overnight.
Busselton’s horseshoe jetty is submerged by abnormally high tides. (Supplied: Liam McKeagg)
Parts of Perth have experienced minor flooding, including Riverside Drive in the Perth CBD and Kwinana Freeway northbound at the Mill Point Road on-ramp.
Main Roads is encouraging drivers to be aware and drive slowly.
Albany experienced some localised flooding after receiving 16.4mm to 9am.
The Esplanade in Lower King in Albany, after the storm. (ABC News: Rosemary Murphy )
Worst of weather yet to come
The Bureau of Meteorology warned the worst of the wild conditions are expected from Sunday afternoon, with a severe weather warning in place for a large part of southern WA.
“A deepening and intense low-pressure system will approach the south-west today and will bring a significant burst of damaging to locally destructive winds to western and southern parts of the South West Land Division,” the warning said.
“The winds associated with the low-pressure system during Sunday afternoon, evening and Monday morning are expected to produce dangerous weather that is only seen once every three to five years in the south-west of Western Australia.”
The warning area for damaging winds and heavy rainfall was expected to cover a large swathe of WA between Kalbarri and Esperance. (Supplied: Bureau of Meteorology)
Wind gusts up to 125 kilometres an hour are forecast for areas south-west of a line from Lancelin to Albany, including Perth, by the late afternoon.