A Mandurah resident has filmed the roof being peeled off a home as strong winds and torrential rains smashed Western Australia.

The violent storm on Sunday uprooted trees, knocked down power lines, hurled trampolines through the air and left more than 160,000 people across the state without power.

Kerry Tawhai, 29, was heading to her garage to watch football about 2.30pm when she heard a tremendous noise coming from her neighbour's roof.

"I could hear the tin quite loudly; just this really loud sound," Ms Tawhai said.

"I saw it move a bit and grabbed my phone and then it just blew off."

"It was pretty scary."

She said the worst of the storm was quite brief but the devastation was as bad as she had ever seen.

Emergency services received hundreds of calls for help across Perth and regional areas, as rains and winds of up to 140kmh caused road closures and significant damage to buildings and infrastructure.

In Perth's northeast suburbs, a roof had collapsed on a two-storey block of flats, forcing residents to evacuate, while a crane collapsed on a corner of the Queen Elizabeth II Medical Centre in the western suburb of Nedlands, also causing significant damage.

Dozens of boats, including large motor launches and at least one ketch, washed onshore in coastal areas and shipping containers were blown off their stacks in Fremantle harbour.

Power lines and wooden poles were down in most Perth suburbs, while there were reports of homes being damaged by falling trees and branches, as well as dangerous debris flying.

The Bureau of Meteorology said the storm was caused by a deepening offshore low-pressure system off the coast of Geraldton earlier in the day that had moved rapidly south and inland.

Source:

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8481893/wa-resident-films-roof-peeling-off-house