Victoria buffeted by 100km/h wind, thousands without power

Hundreds of people have made calls for help and thousands left without power after destructive wind damaged property and felled trees across Victoria overnight.

Wind speeds peaked at more than 100km/h in coastal areas over the state, and a range of Melbourne suburbs experienced wind gusts of between 60km/h and 90km/h, including the CBD, Essendon, St Kilda and Point Cook.

The State Emergency Service received 1477 callouts in the 24 hours to 5pm, with more than 1150 of those for fallen trees.

About 270 callouts were for building damage, with 117 separate SES units active statewide during the weather event.

Electricity distributors AusNet and Powercor reported 8300 customers without power between them at midday on Saturday, which had dropped to 2400 by 5pm.

Powercor spokesman Jordan Oliver said outages were mostly due to debris falling on powerlines, and electricity was expected to be restored to customers throughout the day.

Wind across the city was expected to ease by the afternoon, Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Jonathan How said on Saturday morning.

“It will still be very windy as most people wake up – so strong wind chill – but [it will] ease below damaging strength,” he said.

State Control Centre spokesman Grant Machell said, “relatively settled weather” was expected for Saturday, and urged the community to be patient waiting for assistance from emergency crews.

A severe weather warning remains in place for parts of the state, including Wilsons Promontory, Gippsland and Mansfield in the High Country. Blizzard conditions are forecast above 1200 metres and snow above 700 metres.

The SES said the state’s south-west had made the most calls for assistance, with the Portland unit responding to 84 jobs, Warrnambool 62 and Port Fairy 57. Warrnambool Mayor Ben Blaine said it was a “really wet, wild and windy night”, and power outages, including to traffic lights, were reported in the coastal city.

“But I think [emergency] crews have done an amazing job and as far as I can tell, there’s actually no big things [or damage] to come from it,” Blaine said.

Hamilton’s SES Unit posted online just after midnight on Saturday morning: “We are having a busy night – 28 calls so far in 2hr 20 min. One roof damage. One McDonalds sign that we could not do anything for. We locally triage requests to prioritise the most urgent.”

Gust speeds peaked at more than 100km/h about 10.30pm on Friday in Warrnambool. Wilsons Promontory (119km/h) and Mount Hotham (128km/h) also experienced the strong wind, with gusts reaching 106km/h in St Kilda.

In the greater Melbourne area the busiest units were Sorrento with 67 jobs, and Hastings with 59.

It was rainy and windy overnight in Porepunkah, the small town where alleged police killer Dezi Freeman remains at large.

Here the units across Bright, Myrtleford and Wangaratta had to respond to a combined 29 jobs.

Earlier this week, the SES said hearing of the Porepunkah incident had been “quite distressing for the service and for VICSES volunteers, as emergency services are part of a tight-knit community”.

“[It’s] very cold this morning, snow above 700 metres, and then blizzard conditions are facing anyone sort of up about [the nearby] Mount Buffalo National Park,” said meteorologist Jonathan How, who expected the showers to ease.

“But we are expecting a very cold night tonight, with a clearing sky, so frost is expected and potentially black ice on the roads for people up there.

“So not a very pleasant sort of set of conditions.”

Heavy rain and strong wind has hampered the police search for Freeman, who has been on the run since allegedly killing two police officers on Tuesday. Buldah in East Gippsland received the highest rainfall in 24 hours with 36mm.

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