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Perth Weather: West Australians have been smashed with wild weather and emergency warnings on Saturday

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Emily MoultonThe West Australian
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Perth’s southern suburbs copped the brunt of the wet weather over the morning.
Camera IconPerth’s southern suburbs copped the brunt of the wet weather over the morning. Credit: Ben Clark/Ben Clark

Huge swathes of Western Australia have been battered with rain through Saturday morning and into the afternoon as emergency services issued a flurry of storm and flood warnings, plus damaging wind advice.

Perth’s southern suburbs copped the brunt of the wet weather over the morning, with Garden Island, off the Rockingham coast, recording 17.2mm of rain since 9am.

Mandurah recorded 13.8mm since 9am and Perth has documented 10mm of rain.

The threat of lightning forced the AFLW practice match between Fremantle and Collingwood to be halted before half-time.

Ferry services to and from Rottnest Island have also been affected with Rottnest Fast Ferries cancelling all services for Sunday.

Sealink has cancelled its boats from Fremantle to Rottnest for the rest of Saturday as well as its 2.30pm boat from Rottnest to Fremantle. However it’s 4pm service from the island to the port city is still scheduled to go ahead.

Rottnest Express services appear to still be operating, according to its website.

Further south, parts of Busselton are experiencing “moderate flooding”, with water over roads and elevated river levels at the Sabina Diversion Drain, part of the larger Vasse Diversion Drain catchment, among others.

“Moderate flooding is occurring at Wonnerup East Road,” flood advice from the Department of Fire and Emergency Services said.

“River levels are elevated at Chapman Hill Road CB2, Doyle Road CB1, D/S Hill Road and Sabina Main Drain at Vasse Highway CB3.

“There is no immediate danger but you need to keep up to date in case the situation changes.”

DFES also issued an alert for damaging south to south-westerly winds approaching the coastline between Cape Naturaliste and Albany, which are due to hit land later tonight.

Residents of that portion of coastline can expect blustery winds — including gusts up to 100km/h — from about midnight.

Wind gusts will then reduce slightly to about 90km/h as they head further inland through Sunday morning, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

The bureau also advised a low pressure system gaining strength throughout Saturday would likely cause a “vigorous south to southwesterly wind regime” that would come through early Sunday morning.

“The low is likely to initially be slow moving and remain near the Albany coast during the morning, before moving to the east during the afternoon and evening,” the advice said.

Places likely to be affected include Albany, Margaret River, Dunsborough, Mount Barker, Bremer Bay and Walpole.

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