Perth suburbs have been smashed with record breaking rains. Rottnest, Bickley and Swanbourne all received the biggest downpours ever recorded in 24 hours. There was flooding and widespread damage, and the SES received more than 300 calls for help. The record rains were brought by the remnants of ex-tropical Cyclone Joyce, which pummelled Perth with heavy rain for much of Monday in Australia.
The city officially recorded 96 millimetres of rain – the wettest January day since 104mm fell on the city on January 22, 2000. This total is equal to the average rainfall for the city for December, January, February and March combined. It was also the the second-highest January daily rainfall ever recorded.
So there’s been plenty of falls above 100mm through much of Perth metro area: Rottnest Island with 142mm of rain, Swanbourne and Bickley with more than 138mm, 96mm for Perth metro site and 118mm for Jandakot.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services received more than 330 calls for help, and Western Power said on Tuesday morning blackouts had affected about 1300 homes, with crews working throughout the night to repair damage to its network.
The extreme weather system, which was expected to ease off on Tuesday afternoon, produced wind gusts of 90kph and was on Tuesday morning moving into the south-west land division. Most of the rainfall has started to clear at least from the northern suburbs in the Perth metro area.
