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Emergency services are warning a once-in-five-year system is set to batter the West Australian coast throughout the long weekend, with wind gusts of more than 120km/h expected to hit north of Perth late on Saturday.
The Bureau of Meteorology warns the “deep low” system will begin impacting west-facing towns as far north as Geraldton as of Saturday evening, before moving down the coast and smashing parts of Lancelin and heading towards the state’s south-west.
Bureau WA manager James Ashley said it was an “unusually strong and intense” system.
“This winter system is … the type of system we don’t see very often in the south-west of WA,” he said.
“It’s likely to be the strongest winter system we see this year, and maybe with the sort of system we only see every four or five years or so.”
Ashley said the system would cover from Geraldton to Albany across the three-day period of the long weekend, and its impacts will be felt all along the WA coast.
“We’re expecting damaging winds of 90 to 100km/h across a large part of the south-west land division and other southern parts of the state across the long weekend,” he said.
“Near the coast we could see destructive winds gusts up around 125km/h or more to impact those coastal parts along the west coast and south-west corner of the state during the course of that period.”
Ashley said the system would also whip up the oceans, with the swell expected to reach up to eight metres offshore, and riding tides could impact parts of the Swan River – even flooding footpaths.
“The heaviest falls will be near the west coast,” he said.
“We’re expecting falls around 30 to 50 millimetres in west coastal parts, but falls will ease off as the system moves east.”
Department of Fire and Emergency Services Assistant Commissioner Paul Carr said now was the time for West Australians to prepare.
“For those who have not already prepared for winter storms, we encourage them to do so before the system hits,” he said.
Carr said emergency services were in particular warning travellers across the long weekend to plan accordingly, and to be mindful of the hazards the wind and rain could bring.
He also said the long weekend may mean a delay for emergency services responding to incidents, as returning residents may not realise the extent of damage to their property until returning from travels.
He said ultimately emergency services have prepared for the weekend ahead.
“[We] have been working over the last couple of days to coordinate services across government agencies, local governments, key service providers, and utility groups to prepare,” Carr said.
“Whilst we’re doing our bit as best we can, we also need the community to actually look after one another.”
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