Shopping centre ceiling collapses, people rescued from cars after freak storm in Perth

Shoppers watched on in horror as the ceiling of the Ocean Keys shopping centre in Perth collapsed after flash flooding, torrential rain and hail stones.

Shoppers watched on in horror as a the ceiling of a shopping centre collapsed in Perth on Friday afternoon.

A freak storm after one of the city’s longest droughts sparked flash flooding, causing people to become trapped as their cars became submerged.

At the Ocean Keys shopping centre in the city’s north residents were panicked to see water flowing from the ceiling before tiles and debris fell to the floor.

In one video of the moment shoppers can be heard gasping as one woman shouts “oh my God”.

Other parts of the city were battered with hail stones as videos of people wading through knee deep water emerged online.

Shoppers watched on in horror as a the ceiling of a shopping centre collapsed in Perth on Friday afternoon.

Emergency services were called to rescue people 45 who had become stranded by the torrential downpour with that number expected to rise.

Joey Rawson, from the Bureau of Meteorology, said the freak storm dumped more than 130 millimetres of rain in the city’s northern suburbs.

He added that the storm had expected to stay off the coast but had drifted inland with devastating effect.

The Bureau only issued a warning as the storm hit leaving many people unprepared.

“That caused a bit of havoc in the northern suburbs,” he told the ABC.

Cars were submerged after flash floods in Clarkson, Perth. (Facebook: Ashyy Grostate)

A police officer walking through knee deep water after flooding. (Facebook: Toddy White)

Roads around the suburbs of Clarkson and Butler are thought to be worst hit.

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) said they received more than 40 calls from people who had become trapped by the flooding.

“I’ve been doing this job a long time [and] 100 millimetres in under an hour in the metro metropolitan area is fairly unprecedented,” he said.

“And I won’t say it certainly caught us unawares, and we’ve responded accordingly, but certainly without [getting] any notification is unusual.”

Originally published as Shopping centre ceiling collapses, people rescued from cars after freak storm in Perth