Albany records highest daily rainfall in history following ‘very rare’ weather event

Schools and public facilities are closed as the Great Southern cleans up following flash flooding across the region on Thursday night with Albany recording its highest single day of rainfall in history.

Bob Tarr, from the Bureau of Meteorology, said the city recorded 126mm between 9am Thursday and 9am Friday.

“If you’d gotten hit by a thunderstorm and got 50mm in Albany that’s quite unusual but the fact that it continued for a few hours is what tipped it over into that record territory,” Mr Tarr said.

Mr Tarr said there was a less than one per cent chance that a flood of this size would occur in a given year, describing it as a “very rare” weather event.

“The area most impacted was around the Porongurups to Cranbrook and then down through Mt Barker and Albany and that’s where we’ve heard reports of the most damage,” he said.

A Mt Barker station recorded 106mm by 8am on Friday, Cranbrook reported 98mm, and Albany Airport 82mm.

A Department of Fire and Emergency Services spokesperson said SES received 129 calls for assistance yesterday across the Great Southern with most of these for flash flooding and requests for sand bags.

About 50 personnel, including volunteers from five SES units and six Bush Fire Brigade groups worked throughout the night until about 5am.

“A huge thank you to all our amazing volunteers who pitched in to help, including our friends, the fireys — it was a real team effort to support the community,” an Albany Volunteer State Emergency Service spokesperson said in a statement on social media.

“And to our Albany community, we truly appreciate your patience and understanding as we got to each call as quickly as we could.”

Public facilities have been shuttered with City of Albany CEO Andrew Sharpe confirming the Public Library, Visitor Centre, Town Hall and Vancouver Arts Centre were all closed for Friday.

Albany Primary School and St Joseph’s College Junior School were also closed due to storm damage, as is Bayonet Head Shopping Centre and the Binalup / Middleton Beach carpark in front of Albany Surf Life Saving Club.

“The City of Albany would like to thank all the incredible volunteers and agencies who worked tirelessly through the night in response to last night’s heavy rainfall and flooding,” Mr Sharpe said.

“. . . While the immediate danger of flooding has passed, we urge everyone to continue exercising caution, particularly when driving through affected areas,” Mr Sharpe said.

Mercer Road between Chesterpass and Lower King roads was closed but reopened on Friday.

Flood advice remains in place for people in Albany and surrounding suburbs including Kalgan, King River, and Ellecker.

“The immediate danger of flooding has passed, but people need to continue to exercise caution when driving through the area,” a DFES spokesperson said.

Residents are advised to be wary of fallen powerlines or trees, broken water and sewerage lines, loose roof sheeting and other materials.

If water rose above power points, the house should be checked by an electrician before the power is turned back on.

And do not enter floodwaters as they are dangerous.

It started raining in Albany at about 5pm, reaching 20mm by 8pm and tapering off in the early hours of Friday morning with Albany Airport recording 80mm by 3am.

The highest single day of March rainfall for Albany since record keeping began was 90mm and for any month 114mm, making Thursday one of the highest single day of rainfalls in Albany.

The City of Albany encourages residents to report any road or footpath damage using their online Report It function: www.albany.wa.gov.au/forms/report-it/4