WA storm cuts power to thousands as wild weekend weather continues

Wild weather is continuing to hammer southern WA, with trees and power lines brought down by strong winds and emergency crews dealing with hundreds of calls for help. Western Power figures show at least 30,000 customers have been hit by outages, with more than 250 storm-related outages in the South West. What's next? Fremantle's WA Day festival has been cancelled, and a new severe weather warning has been issued for the Great Southern, Central Wheatbelt and southern Goldfields regions. Western Australia's southern half has been hammered by wild weather across the WA Day long weekend, with the State Emergency Service receiving nearly 700 requests for help. Flooding and damaging winds on Saturday night were followed by a second storm on Sunday evening. Rainfall in Perth eased overnight, with only 4 millimetres recorded. But the western end of Riverside Drive in Perth's CBD has been closed due to flooding. Data from Western Power shows at least 30,000 customers have been hit by outages across WA, with more than 250 storm-related outages in the South West. Western Power estimates most outages will be resolved by around 6:30pm. There are reports of fallen trees, power lines and debris on the roads across Perth and the southern and western coastlines, and Main Roads is urging motorists to drive with caution. Fremantle's WA Day festival has been cancelled due to a forecast of continued strong winds in the metropolitan area on Monday. A wind gust of 135 kilometres per hour was recorded at Cape Naturaliste at 5:33pm on Sunday. A new severe weather warning has been issued for the Great Southern, Central Wheatbelt and southern Goldfields regions. The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said an intense low-pressure system was moving east across that area, bringing destructive winds averaging up to 70km/h. A coastal hazard warning has also been issued for an area from Northampton down to Esperance, with seafarers advised to be wary of gale-force westerly winds, elevated sea levels and powerful waves. The BOM has warned of coastal flooding in low-lying areas between Jurien Bay and Israelite Bay.