Perth storm: Wild weather forces closure of IKEA and Mandurah Forum as locals make 100 emergency calls

A winter storm that battered Perth on Sunday briefly shut down a Mandurah shopping centre and left IKEA’s flagship store with severe roof damage.

Signs were plastered on the building entry points of IKEA blaming a “technical issue” for the closure and workers, equipped with megaphones, told customers it was closed because of storm damage on Sunday.

The West Australian understands part of the furniture store’s roof was blown away during wet and windy weather.

Andrea Summers and Andy Smith drove two hours from Bunbury to IKEA in they hopes collect items for their house renovation, before they discovered it had closed.

“We checked their website before we left home because we checked what time it opened, and we were getting stuff on the list ready,” Mr Summers said.

“We’ve driven all the way to this.

“Now we will drive two hours back to Bunbury — a four hour round trip.”

Workers were seen telling customers it was “not safe” inside the store, with maintenance already underway.

One worker was observed saying the store would likely be closed throughout Sunday, with an IKEA spokeswoman saying the store would reopen at 9am on Monday.

Cars were still funnelling through the carpark despite Sunday’s closure.

IKEA has since changed their opening hours on Google to “temporarily closed” and updated their website informing customers of the closure.

A spokeswoman for the furniture giant said the store’s showroom roof was damaged outside of opening hours.

“The damage to the roof of our showroom area happened outside of opening hours, so we can confirm there were no customers in store at the time and all IKEA co-workers are safe and well,” she said.

“We ask for our customers’ understanding while there may be some delays to delivery and click and collect orders, as our team works hard to minimise any disruptions for our customers. “

It comes as Mandurah Forum was forced to close for a short period after losing power on Sunday afternoon.

“Mandurah Forum is currently closed due to a Western Power outage affecting the area,” centre management said in a statement at 2.15pm.

About 20 minutes later, the shopping centre had reopened.

“Please note that while many stores have resumed trading, some may still be closed as services are restored,” management said.

“We appreciate your patience and look forward to welcoming you back in centre.”

Videos taken from inside the shopping showed minimal lighting and several stores shutting their doors following the outage.

A Department of Fire and Emergency Services spokesman said the SES had received more than 100 calls for assistance since 4.30pm on Saturday.

He said over a third of those calls came from the Mandurah and Rockingham areas, with the remaining calls for assistance “widespread” across the Perth metropolitan area.

Flooding and roof damage were the main issues reported to the SES.

Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Luke Huntington said the rainfall in the last 24 hours, which is at 40mm, was “typical” of winter and not unusual, citing 61mm of rainfall on August 15 and 16, 2023.

He said the highest two-day rainfall total recorded for August was 63.8mm in 1994.

The highest two-day rainfall total recorded for August was 63.8mm in 1994.

He said winds up to 100kms/hr were expected for a large part of the south west of the state.

“We certainly did see some locations recording that 100km mark, some of the highest locations were Cape Naturaliste and Cape Leeuwin - Cape Naturaliste had the highest gust of 115kms/hr,” Mr Huntington said.

Rottnest Island recorded the highest gusts of wind in the Perth metropolitan area at 109kms/hr.

Mr Huntington said the Bureau had received reports of between one and two centimetres of hail in parts of Perth and the South West.

Over 20,000 lightning strikes were recorded across the south west of the state, with 10,000 of those strikes reported in the Perth metropolitan area.

Winds, showers, and hail are expected to ease around 5pm on Sunday.

Mr Huntington said the rainfall was not unusual, but was moving quickly and can cause flash flooding.

He urged people to stay safe and secure loose objects outdoors.

“If places are flooded, don’t drive through flood waters . . . and (I) advise people to stay indoors when it’s really windy outside,” Mr Huntington said.

A spokeswoman for Western Power said about 20,000 people around the State had lost power as a result of the weather on Sunday morning.

By midday, 14,000 people were still without power as crews worked to fix damaged powerlines.

“The damaging and destructive winds associated with the storm front have thrown debris, including tree branches, into the network damaging equipment and bringing down power lines,” she said.

“We have all available crews addressing hazards on the network and we are putting plans in place to bring more on if the current levels escalate unexpectedly.”

She said repair work on damaged infrastructure will not begin until the storm front has passed as a result of lightning.

“Our network operations team is working to isolate damaged parts of the networks and backfeed where possible to restore power where it is safe to do so,” she said.

A Bureau of Meteorology spokeswoman said small hail had been observed through various parts of the Perth metropolitan on Sunday morning which will continue through until the afternoon.

A storm advice remains in place for the Perth metropolitan area, the South West, the Great Southern, the Goldfields-Midlands, and the Mid West Gascoyne regions.

People are being urged to stay at least eight metres away from fallen power lines and call Western Power on 13 13 51.

The spokeswoman said the expected restoration time for most customers is 6pm Sunday.

The Perth area is expected to experience less rain in the afternoon.