Tornado rips through Perth's City Beach, destroying multimillion-dollar homes

News.com.au

24-07-2025

A freak so-called tornado has left an incredible trail of destruction in one of Perth's most prestigious suburbs, destroying multimillion-dollar homes and leaving streets resembling war zones.
Wild weather hit the city on Wednesday afternoon, in particular City Beach, where several homes lost their roofs and experienced other severe damage.
Video footage shows the path of chaos starting at City Beach Oval and then into the suburb, with roofs off properties, trees strewn across the road and fences down.
One City Beach family left without a roof on their multimillion-dollar home.
The family of four were at home on Kalari Drive relaxing on the couch when the wind gust ripped away the roof of the master bedroom, making room for rain to pour onto the furniture.
Solar panels which were attached to the roof flew onto the neighbours roofs and into their backyards.
Fortunately, nobody was hurt.
The family was looking for a hotel to book on Wednesday night and until the damage is repaired.
'I heard a huge bang and I thought all the windows would implode,' one family member said.
Another family living nearby on Marapana Road watched their backyard get crumpled by falling trees.
'I was just sitting in the kitchen, and I was looking out into our backyard, the pool area and this whole lot of darkness just filled up the air,' the homeowner, who did not want to be named, said.
'It was obviously dust and debris... it was pretty wild.
'There was a lot of rain and a lot of wind, it was torrential, it was very heavy.
'We went outside when it cooled down a little bit, and we've got trees from next door that have fallen in, we've got two other property's fences caved in, we've got people's chairs, people's bins just come out of nowhere.
'Our yard is demolished basically.'
Video footage shows a cloud formation in the sky which appears to look like a tornado, however authorities are yet to officially confirm.
The damage left at City Beach's Lentara Crescent was extreme.
Big trees fell across the road, rendering it almost undriveable.
A fence was completely torn from the side of one house and thrown towards the other side of the street.
The roof of a carport was caved in, with bricks toppled onto the road and windows of the home smashed.
State Emergency Service crews were seen at the home doing their best to secure what they could.
A strong wind warning was in place on Wednesday night for the Perth coast.
The trail of destruction left by a 'freak' tornado on Wednesday,
Swanbourne had experienced 20.2mm of rain since 9am on Wednesday, with a wind gust of 50km/h recorded just before 4pm.
Meanwhile, wind gusts of 76km/h were recorded at Rottnest Island and 73km/h at Garden Island.
Main Roads WA was warning motorists to take care on Wednesday evening, with the Causeway flooded after Adelaide Terrace in the city.
The Weather Bureau is forecasting a maximum temperature of just 14C in Perth on Thursday, with a chance of a thunderstorm near the coast in the early morning.
Last year, a tornado caused major damage to dozens of homes when it tore through Bunbury.