Homes in Pilbara town of Marble Bar have been left ‘uninhabitable’ after a freak storm tore through the tow yesterday afternoon. Residents have described it as short but ferocious, destroying five homes and damaging several more.
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00:00It came out of nowhere and without warning. The freak storm smashing the town with wind
00:10gusts up to 115 kilometres an hour.
00:13It was just, it was crazy. The strong rain went on for about 15 minutes before it stopped
00:18and it was just a bit of wind after that. But it was just a hectic 15 minutes.
00:23The trail of destruction clear with several homes destroyed and fences and debris strewn
00:28across the town.
00:29One of the houses where the roofs came off, it's three houses down on an angle and the
00:36roof flew straight over and landed on my neighbour's car.
00:40There was no early warning for residents to prepare with an emergency warning issued after
00:44the storm had rolled through. Authorities are grateful no one was injured with the worst
00:49of the impacts confined to a small area.
00:52Five houses which are uninhabitable and we also had an ablution block at a caravan park
00:57which was completely destroyed. We also have a further 11 properties which have been impacted.
01:03I saw the tip of a tornado literally come out of the clouds and drop down, do a bit
01:11of a fish hook and suck back up.
01:14Early indications suggest this was a microburst event, a severe microburst from a thunderstorm.
01:20But there's still possibility that the damage was caused by a tornado as many thunderstorms
01:26do carry the risk of traumatic activity with them.
01:29At least five of the properties damaged contained asbestos. Authorities now blocking off access
01:34to the affected sites.
01:36Given the concerns about asbestos I'd just like to reinforce we're advising the community
01:40to stay away from damaged homes and take care when moving around the town.
01:46Additional SES crews have been sent to assist on the ground. The clean up now underway expected
01:51to last for days to come.