Bunbury Storms – latest updates

Department of Communities has a disaster assistance hotline for specific concerns around accommodation and food. This number is 1800 032 965.

The City is available during office hours (8.30am to 4.30pm) for enquiries and support – 9792 7000.

If you need help and don’t have access or ability to use a phone, you can come to the City Administration Building (4 Stephen Street, Bunbury) during office hours.

The PDF below also provides a number of personal support services.

Bunbury Tornado 2024 Support Services

Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) has a Bunbury Storm Recovery Information website.

This page, dedicated to recovery resources following the storms, provides important details around support, information, emergency financial assistance and how to apply.

The City is holding regular Recovery Hubs for community members with City staff and other agency representatives available for support and advice.

Koolambidi Woola

Tuesdays from 3pm to 5pm

Withers Library Recovery Hub

Wednesdays from 11am to 1pm

Hay Park North Pavilion Recovery Hub

Thursdays from 2pm to 4pm

Emergency financial assistance is available for eligible residents where the home was destroyed or severely damaged by the storm.

The payment is available to help residents pay for food, clothing, personal effects, transport and emergency accommodation.

A payment of $4000 is available for those whose homes were destroyed or severely damaged.

A payment of $2000 is available for those whose homes suffered major damage. Apply for the State Government’s emergency financial assistance here or, contact the DFES Recovery Grants Team on recoverygrants@dfes.wa.gov.au or 1800 490 678 (Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm). You can also apply for Western Power’s extended outage claim here.

This is the State Government’s $120 extended outage payment, which is a one-off payment of $120 per any supply interruption that lasts longer than 12 consecutive hours.

For help, contact Western Power on 13 10 87.

Asbestos monitoring by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation did not detect any airborne fibres.

We ask residents to use caution if you suspect there is asbestos in the area. Please follow Emergency WA for updates.

Residents who may require assistance or advice about cleaning up asbestos can contact the City of Bunbury during business hours on 9792 7000.

Residents wanting to clean up in the recovery zone are asked to please wear appropriate Personal Protective Equipment.

The City has packs of PPE available for residents from the Administration Building, the Recovery Hubs or by contacting us on 9792 7000.

While wearing PPE, residents are asked to wet the surface of any asbestos before handling, double wrap in black plastic and clearly mark as asbestos. Please leave on your verge for collection. Please do not dispose of asbestos in residential bins.

If you need assistance with asbestos advice or disposal, please contact the City on 9792 7000 or for further information about asbestos safety, go here.

The clean-up is expected to continue over the coming weeks, with debris still around the impacted areas.

Residents are also still cleaning up private properties.

Some roads are still being cleaned up of asbestos fragments that have been discovered after roads were opened. The area is not closed to traffic.

Tree and vegetation debris clean-up continues in College Grove and Withers.

The City is also planning additional hard and green waste collections for impacted areas to support recovery efforts.

Roads in the impacted area have now been assessed and reopened by Department of Fire and Emergency Services WA.

South West Sports Centre, the Hay Park precinct and Withers Library are all open.

While our focus currently remains on clearing storm damage (including large trees, fencing and asbestos materials), the City is planning additional hard and green waste collections in the impacted area to support our community. We will provide details on this as soon as we can.

We ask residents to please not start putting out bulky hard waste items for collection if avoidable, as the City is still working to confirm when collections can happen and this could be unsafe given predicted inclement weather.

The McCombe Road Resource Drop Off Centre and Stanley Road Waste Management Facility are both open.

The City is not able to collect or transport hazardous waste.

The community can take household hazardous waste to the Stanley Road Waste Management Facility for free. Please see more information, including accepted materials and amounts on the WasteNet website.

Please do not put in residential bins.

Please contact our Waste Team on 9792 7333 if:

• A bin/s at your property is damaged and requires repair or replacement,
• A bin has gone missing from your property and you have been unable to locate it,
• A stray bin requires removal.

The City has been inundated with residential bin repair requests and we ask for our community’s patience as our team works through these requests. We once again thank you for your patience and understanding.

Replacement bin lids and lugs are also available at the Withers Library.

Drones are used by agencies such as the Department of Fire and Emergency Services for disaster recovery. This helps document the information, progress and action for further reporting and funding support.

If you think someone is using a drone illegally, contact police on 131 444 or make a report to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.

Yes, a dedicated team is available and conducting additional patrols in the area. If you have any security concerns, contact the police 131 444.

Donations can be made to the local agencies assisting with the recovery (Red Cross, Salvation Army, SES).