Overview
- Western Power says outages peaked at about 115,000 customers across Perth, the Mid West and Wheatbelt, the biggest event since 2010.
- All Perth customers are back online more than 36 hours after the storm, but active fires and damaged equipment are delaying reconnection for parts of the Mid West.
- The Bureau of Meteorology reported damaging winds, heavy rain, lightning and hail, with gusts up to 100 km/h recorded at Perth Airport.
- Mobile coverage failed on some Mid West firegrounds after tower batteries depleted, limiting firefighter communications as telcos deployed generators and emergency call fallback relied on alternate carriers where available.
- Western Power crews worked through hazards and repairs, prioritized community infrastructure, and invited customers without power for over 12 hours to apply for a $120 payment, as critics pressed for stronger grid resilience after backup at the Mungarra station was unavailable during maintenance.