Wild weather that tore through Perth’s southern suburbs, causing widespread damage, has been categorised as a tornado by the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM).

Residents of Hilton and O’Connor woke on Monday to find roofs torn off houses, downed power lines and smashed trees, and a dinghy landed in someone’s front yard.

More than 80 State Emergency Service volunteers responded to 75 calls for help since 5am (WST).

A BoM spokeswoman said a wind engineer had inspected damage in Hilton and concluded a tornado had hit the suburb, with winds well exceeding 125km/h.