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A vicious squall line, moving at speeds of up
to 100km/h, crosses the WA coast this morning. This radar animation shows
images each 20 minutes from 4am WST (20.00 UTC) to 8am (00.00 UTC). The
squall line extended along nearly 600km of the WA coast as far north as
Geraldton. BoM  |
 WA:
Storms cause $25m damage in Perth, Bunbury and the South West
Severe thunderstorms and at least one tornado brought devastation to parts
of Perth and Bunbury and widespread damage and disruption in southwestern WA
around dawn. The Insurance Council of Australia estimated over
9,000 damage claims had been
lodged as at 20 May totalling
$24.6m. The event was classed a natural disaster, giving victims access to
the state's Natural Disaster Relief Arrangements, including replacement of
essential household
contents,
emergency
repairs to
homes and
buildings and
temporary living expenses.
The storms were the worst since those of May 1994. Thousands of trees
were felled, hundreds
of powerlines downed and scores of buildings and structures destroyed or
damaged as winds gusted to storm and hurricane strength across a wide area.
Torrential rain and
debris and live powerlines on roads caused widespread
traffic dislocation and over 100,000 properties lost power, some for 5 days.
The storms developed along a very fast-moving cold front that passed through
Perth and Bunbury around 6am. The radar above shows that in the Perth area
the front was travelling
at about 100km/h.
While the front slowed and lost strength over land, it still caused tree and
house damage as far inland as Wagin around 8am. The highest wind gusts were
along the coast: Rottnest Island 143km/h, Cape Leeuwin 135, Swanbourne (W
of Perth) 113 and North Walpole (100km W of Albany) 111. High gusts inland
included Wandering 104km/h, Jandakot 94, Newdegate 93 and Bunbury 91. However,
the worst damage was caused by localised downbursts and, in the case of Bunbury,
an F2 tornado.
Torrential rain fell with the storms, though their rapid movement kept the
heaviest rain brief. Jandakot Airport recorded 5.4mm in just 2 minutes, Perth
Metro 5.8 in 2 minutes and Perth Airport 5.8 in 4 minutes. Most locations around
Perth recorded between 20 and 40mm between about 5 and 9am. Farther south,
rain was heavier and more sustained, with 50 to 90mm recorded, mostly between
5 and 9am, in an area from Margaret River through Bunbury and Busselton to
Collie and SE to the Manjimup district. Busselton Airport recorded 43.4mm in
48 minutes and Shannon, 42km SSE of Manjimup, registered 62.2mm between 5 and
7am. Highest 24 hour to 9am readings were Acton Park (15km SSE of Busselton)
89.2mm, Nannup 82.0, Shannon 80.0 and Busselton Airport 76.0. The Busselton
Council gauge, close to the CBD, recorded 98.2 for the 48 hours to 9am, though
by far the greater part would have fallen this morning. Falls of 20 to 50mm
spilt
over the ranges into the Great Southern, with the heaviest falls west of Katanning
where Kojonup, with 97 years of observations, set a new May one-day record
with 48.4mm.
The main events resulting from the storms:
- A tornado swept across Bunbury, bringing a 38m crane down into the ABC
Radio studios, narrowly missing staff and taking the station off air. Some
other buildings, including several businesses in the CBD, were reported to
be "all but demolished". The 84 year old St Patrick's Cathedral
was severely damaged with cracks appearing in its facade which widened during
subsequent days of rain. The building was condemned late in the month. The
Discount Auto Parts building was also condemned. Cars were flattened and
power poles ripped out of the ground or snapped off. Items as mixed as urinals,
television sets and mattresses were found among debris on roadsides. The
tornado was given a preliminary F2 classification by the Bureau of Meteorology,
indicating gusts between 179 and 250km/h. It crossed the coast at around
6am at Rocky Point, then carved an ESE path 7km long and
30 to 150m wide across the southern CBD to Picton.
- Widespread and severe damage occurred south of the Swan River around Bicton
and Attadale, just inland from Fremantle. A possible tornado ripped roofs
of six
buildings
at Bicton Primary School
causing
damage
estimated
at $6m.
The music room was ripped from its foundations and moved 2m, while two demountable
classrooms were completely demolished. School furniture
was carried up to 50m by the winds. A nearby house was demolished and several
others lost roofs. The wind was strong enough to blow in car windows. The
Bicton school was closed, as were damaged schools in nearby Shelley, at Roleystone
and Serpentine on
Perth's
southern
fringe,
and two
schools
at Bunbury.
- Western Power reported extensive damage to its network from lightning strikes
and fallen trees and branches. Over 100,000 properties across Perth and
the South West lost power. A swathe from Fremantle to Armadale was particularly
badly hit, with many properties without power for up to 2 days. Some repairs
took up to 5 days due to the extreme workload on repair crews and the severity
of
the
damage.
In
Bunbury,
5,000
properties
lost power around 6am for most of the day.
- The SES received 964 incident callouts during and after the storms in Perth
and Bunbury.
- Perth morning peak traffic was chaotic. Southbound traffic was banked up
for 15km on the Mitchell Freeway following a 3-car collision at a city exit
at 6.30am. The Canning Highway south of the bridge was closed when a 55m
construction-site crane on the Raffles Hotel development threatened to collapse
onto the roadway. The highway was also blocked at Applecross when part of
a MacDonalds store roof blew onto it. Traffic diverted onto an overloaded
Kwinana Freeway, still speed-restriced following flooding from a burst water
main last Friday. At least 50 sets of traffic lights were out around the
city, while debris and local flooding added to traffic hazards, and there
were numerous serious crashes.
- Extensive damage was reported in the Kojonup
- Wagin - Narrogin area. All roads into Duranillin, 50km WSW of Wagin,
were closed with power poles reportedly
ripped out of the ground, bushland flattened, and flooding preventing
emergency services getting into the town to repair damage. The Great Southern
Highway
between Narrogin and Wagin was blocked by downed trees. A home in Wagin
lost half a roof, while 3 others and 2 farmhouses in the district were
significantly damaged.
- Trees crushed parked cars and smashed house windows
in Hilton Road, Roleystone, 20km SE of Perth.
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