Bunbury: Potential tornado tears through South West city, causing mass power loss and property damage

A clean-up is underway in WA after a suspected tornado struck the State’s largest regional city.

The storm ripped its way across WA’s south overnight, bringing destructive winds exceeding 100km/h and heavy rain to the South West and Great Southern regions.

Residents in East Bunbury faced significant damage from the system, with multiple properties sustaining damage.

Western Power reports 170 properties in the town remain without electricity on Tuesday morning.

Local media outlets say roofs have been lifted from residential properties and damage from the suspected system focused on the streets surrounding Bunbury Forum Shopping Centre.

A spokesperson for DFES told PerthNow they have received eight calls for assistance on Tuesday morning over the potential tornado.

The Bureau of Meteorology is investigating the nature of the system to verify if this was a tornado or microburst storm.

“A microburst is a straight-line wind, and a tornado has rotating winds around it,” meteorologist Jessica Lingard told the ABC.

“They sit on a level playing field and can easily pack wind gusts of up to 100 kilometres an hour.

“It’s a smaller system but that doesn’t mean there’s such a thing as a mini-tornado: it either is (a tornado) or it isn’t.”

PerthNow has contacted BoM for comment.