Monster storm bearing down on WA
A severe weather warning has been issued for parts of Western Australia from Saturday evening, bringing “destructive winds and heavy rainfall”.
Senior Meteorologist Ilana Cherny released the forecast Saturday morning and warned that communities should be prepared for potential “property damage, power outages and coastal erosion.”
The severe weather warning extends from Kalbarri in the north to south-west WA; Thunderstorms and showers are expected to start on Saturday evening, and damaging winds are expected on Sunday.
Cherny later said a “second burst of very strong winds” would affect everything southwest of the line from approximately Lancelin to Albany from Sunday evening through Monday morning.
Severe storms are expected in the system, including hurricanes, which “if they develop, will be very fast-moving and short-lived.”
He added that waves were expected to reach up to 8 meters on Sunday “with such a powerful system”, and that there was a high probability of material damage and falling trees inland.
“We may also see some power lines down, which could lead to long-term power outages, and with the coastal conditions we expect, we are also looking at dangerous surf coastal erosion as well as the possibility of inundation of low-lying coastal areas,” he said.
The strongest winds are expected to come from the southwest on Sunday evening and continue until Monday morning.
“On Monday, the low pressure system will continue to move eastward and showers and storms will also spread into southern and southeastern Australia,” Cherny said.
“So on Monday, not only do we face a risk of showers and storms continuing across the south-west of Western Australia, but some of these severe storms will also spread into South Australia before moving south-east into the new week.”
Cherny said it was a ‘deep’ low pressure system approaching the coast that brought the extreme weather to WA, which was only seen “on average once every few years”.
The cold front will then move eastward across the lower parts of the state, he said.
Cherny cautioned that this is an evolving situation and told residents to stay aware of forecasts and warnings.
