State emergency service volunteers returned to their Mandurah headquarters in the late hours of Wednesday night to find their building had also been damaged by the storms, with a near-miss lightning strike cutting power.

Western Power remained on site on Thursday morning restoring service to the building as local volunteers continued to mop up from heavy rains overnight.

Severe thunderstorms across Perth and WA’s southern regions led to the SES receiving more than 45 calls for help statewide, mostly for water ingress, flooding and downed trees.

Mandurah SES emergency services manager Chris Stickland said 35 volunteers attended six local call-outs after 20 millimetres of rain dropped on the southern coastal suburbs just after 6.30pm.

“The conditions were atrocious, thunder, lightning and a mass of rain,” he said.

“It was hard to operate on the road, let alone on roofs in dangerous conditions.

“The good thing is no one in the public got hurt, and all volunteers came back safe – very tired, hungry and wet.”

He said half the work was concentrated on homes still under tarps from a mini tornado which hit the region several weeks ago, with the other half dedicated to new call-outs for minor flooding.

With more than 39 years experience with the SES and 35 years living in Mandurah, Stickland said there had been a noticeable change in the weather pattern.