A wild storm on Monday night has ripped a trail of destruction through parts of Roleystone and Karragullen.
Some in the area described the storm as a ‘mini tornado’, while weather enthusiasts were claiming it was more likely a ‘microburst’.
But the Bureau of Meteorology is reticent to confirm one way or the other, saying there was no “direct evidence” of a tornado, but that it also “cannot be completely ruled out”.
“Radar imagery does show some severe thunderstorms moving through the Roleystone area at around midnight,” a spokesperson for the BOM said.
“Many severe thunderstorms carry with them a slight chance of tornado development. “Predicting tornadoes is difficult and specific warnings are only issued if signs consistent with tornadoes occurring are visible on radar or direct observations are received.”
Regardless of its official classification, the storm raged along a fairly linear warpath through the hills.
One family on Hawkstone Rd woke in darkness to a nightmare scene, with their pergola roof in the next-door neighbour’s yard, guttering and debris scattered all over their property, and a pole perforating the windscreen of a brand-new car.
The OTR servo up the road was also beaten up pretty hard, and the packing shed of Irymple Orchard Cherry Farm up the hill was also completely decimated.
Falling tree branches brought down live powerlines on Holden Rd, with Western Power trying to restore electricity to over 1500 properties from 1am.
Crews were still working to restore power to some homes well into Tuesday afternoon.
Armadale SES volunteers were called out to seven different emergencies from 11pm onwards, but Unit Manager Connie Eikelboom said the sheer scale of much of the aftermath was too great for the volunteers to tackle.
“The strength of the winds ripped huge trees out of the ground and snapped some like twigs,” she said.
“There were three or four houses that were totally trashed.
“It was way beyond our volunteers’ capabilities.”
Instead, the team used their experience to make sure anyone affected had somewhere to stay for the night, and were able to rescue a donkey and clean up its paddock for its vision-impaired owner.
The clean-up continued on Tuesday, with reports of flooding and damage in Seville Grove, the City of Armadale’s administration centre, and the Djinda Dreaming Bush School in Bedfordale.
Rain gauges in Bedfordale recorded up to 50mm overnight.
