An estimated 500,000 people were left without power following wild storms and damaging winds in Victoria overnight.
The Victoria State Emergency Service has received more than 2,500 calls for help in the past 24 hours, with about 300 people reporting damage to their properties, AAP reports.
Power had been restored to some properties this morning but about 450,000 households are still without electricity, as energy market operator Aemo warned some won’t have electricity this weekend or even by early next week.
NBN services are also offline in about 125,000 households.
Senior forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology Christie Johnson told AAP several locations recorded their strongest wind gusts in a decade or more, including Viewbank (104km/h), Hopetoun (83km/h) and Ben Nevis (117km/h).
In Bass Strait, Hogan Island clocked up wind gusts of 165 km/h, while parts of the Surf Coast recorded October wind speeds not seen in 20 years.
Johnson said the damaging winds were caused by an intense low-pressure system moving across the state, with thunderstorms in the northwest developing at the same time as a storm system over Geelong.
Sections of several metropolitan train lines are still suspended, and there are major delays on a number of V/Line services.
Several vaccination centres have been closed due to the storms, and there are reports VCE students have been unable to travel to their end-of-year exams.
A severe weather warning for damaging winds is still current in Gippsland, parts of central and northeast Victoria, along with the Surf Coast and Geelong.
The winds are expected to ease later on today, passing across Melbourne and extending to Gippsland in the early afternoon.
