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Car engulfed by water as heavy rainfall and flooding hits the Great Southern

Headshot of Rourke Walsh
Rourke WalshThe West Australian
VideoA car was engulfed by water in the Albany suburb of Milpara after record rain and flooding hit WA’s Great Southern overnight.

Emergency services have responded to more than 30 calls for help after WA’s Great Southern was battered by heavy rain and flooding overnight.

A severe weather warning is still in place for Albany, Esperance, Bremer Bay and Denmark, with predictions of more heavy rainfall and possible thunderstorms throughout the day.

By 6.30am this morning, Albany Airport had recorded 71.6mm of rain and is on track to top its previous wettest August day on record of 73mm in 1979.

By the same time this morning, Bremer Bay had recorded an impressive 122mm, Many Peaks recorded 100mm and Esperance had received 50.4mm of rain.

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The record rainfall wreaked havoc on the Albany suburb of Milpara, causing flooding and chaos on the roads.

The driver managed to make it out of this car, which was engulfed by watre in the Albany suburb of Milpara.
Camera IconThe driver managed to make it out of this car, which was engulfed by watre in the Albany suburb of Milpara. Credit: Michael Cooney/Facebook

Police had to block off parts of Havoc Road and Henry Street due to heavy flooding, which engulfed a vehicle late last night.

The driver, whose car ended up in a drain, had to climb out of the passenger side to get out.

A witness said the man was “shaken up but OK”.

The backyard of this Milpara home was also transformed into a lake by the heavy rain.

But it’s not all bad news, the rain has been welcomed by farmers in the region, particularly in areas near Newdegate and Ravensthorpe that have endured several recent dry seasons.

Newdegate had recorded 1.2mm as of 7am this morning and Ravensthorpe had recorded 6.0mm.

Albany Airport’s monthly rainfall average for August is just 124mm with the most ever recorded 267mm in 1992.

Heavy rainfall, which may lead to flash flooding, is expected to continue today, while isolated thunderstorms with wind gusts of up to 80 km/h are also possible.

The Bureau of Meteorology says this an unusual weather event due to persistent heavy rain falling in the same location and the swell direction along the south coast approaching from a different direction than normal.

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