Rain has helped dampen the fire threat in Western Australia, but severe weather warnings remain in place for today as a low works its way along the south-west coast.
Key points:
- Strong winds and heavy rain have been forecast to hit the southern coast of Western Australia today
- Rain helped firefighters contain two blazes that burned late into Saturday night
- The Wooroloo fire that destroyed 86 homes has also been downgraded to advice level
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) is urging people in the Lower West, South West, and parts of the Central West and South Coastal districts to take action now as damaging winds and heavy rainfall batter the region.
As of 8:00am the area considered most vulnerable stretched south from Mandurah to Walpole, including Bunbury, Manjimup, Margaret River and Yanchep.
An earlier alert included the Perth metropolitan area but the threat there has since eased.
Gooseberry Hill and Bickley both recorded wind gusts of about 100 kilometres an hour, as dozens of millimetres of rain was dumped on Perth overnight.
Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Stephen McInerney said those conditions were likely to continue through Sunday morning.
"Once that low pressure system starts tracking a little bit closer towards Perth those north-westerly winds could pick up through the coastal zones," he said.
Loading"There is a slight chance that you could see again gusts of up to potentially 100 kilometres an hour, on the off chance that there's a shower that moves over the area."
But he said the worst had passed for the state's mid-west, where flood warnings remained in place after the same system that delivered hundreds of millimetres of rain to the area.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said the Gascoyne River peaked at 7.07 metres at about 8:15pm on Saturday before falling to just above six metres this morning.
"They're only really expecting maybe the odd light shower or two for the remainder of today and tomorrow," Mr McInerney said.
"It's just going to take a few days for the floodwaters to subside, but it does look like the heaviest of the activity has passed off to the south now."
DFES said it had received 83 calls for help since 9:00am on Friday.
Fire alert downgraded
The low also helped bring about 30 millimetres of rain to WA's south-west, where six fires were reported about 6:30pm on Saturday night.
Two fires near Yallingup and Injidup were quickly upgraded to emergency level, with authorities concerned the blazes were within hours of reaching homes.
DFES said the rainfall helped bring both fires under control, with both being downgraded to advice level by midnight.
They said they believed both fires, which were about 10 kilometres apart, may have been deliberately lit.
A WA Police spokesperson said Arson Squad detectives were travelling to Yallingup today to investigate the fires.
Authorities also downgraded the Wooroloo bushfire that had devastated communities north-east of Perth to advice level.
Yesterday was the first time many residents had been allowed to return home since the blaze started on Monday.
It went on to destroy 86 homes and burn almost 11-thousand hectares of land.
Severe weather to come for south-west
As of 8:00am on Sunday, the BOM said the low pressure system was 200 kilometres north-west of Perth and moving southwards.
Mr McInerney said it was expected to cross over land somewhere near Bunbury late today or early tomorrow.
The region has already felt some of the low's effects, with Brunswick Junction recording 46 millimetres of rain, while Harvey received 44 millimetres.
Mr McInerney said while winds were not expected to be particularly strong, higher than normal tides are expected.
"The heaviest rain is now expected through that south-west district for the remainder of today," he said.
"That south-west district could still see 30 to 50 millimetres with isolated falls of up to 100 millimetres."
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2021-02-07 01:02:00Z
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