The day fire, thunder, hail hit Gingin

Residents near Gingin are counting the cost of violent weather that tore through the region on Wednesday and caused them to fear for their lives. Bushfire, torrential rain, tornado-like winds, deafening thunder and gleaming lightning hit dozens of properties north of Perth in a few hours on Wednesday afternoon. At Regan’s Ford, 140km north of Perth, backpackers Mami Nakada, Manaka Murakami and Kevin, who did not want his last name used, huddled together in the back room of a house at an olive farm as a mini-tornado ripped off the roof.