Victoria power outages as it happened: Hundreds of thousands across state still without power; final Grampians fire alert downgraded

Education Minister Ben Carroll told 774 there had been 100 reported outages and 40 reports of storm damage since Tuesday.

Carroll said it was expected most school would reopen by the end of the week, including those around the Grampians.

“Possibly, it is a miracle that we didn’t lose any schools in the Pomonal fires - a combination of sheer luck and the land being quite clear around the school has been helpful in this occasion,” he said.

School bus services in Halls Gap, Pomonal, Stawell, Roses Gap, Dadswell’s Bridge, Nintinbool, Ross Creek, Berringa, and Ballarat were also expected to be affected on Thursday.

Carroll said it was likely the bushfires had affected families in Pomonal with school children.

“We’re going to work with them and do everything we can to ensure that we have the least disruptive education as possible,” he said.

Victorian Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said the AusNet area in the east of Victoria had been hit the hardest.

“25% of AusNet’s network has been damaged, making it the worst event in their history,” she wrote on X.

“AusNet have over 8,000km of lines to inspect and hope to complete this work tonight.

“At that point, they’ll have a better understanding of how long it will take to restore power to each area.”

D’Ambrosio said she had met with the CEOs of AEMO and each of the powerline companies on Wednesday.

“I will meet with them again in the morning to understand how restorations are progressing and ensure that communications to customers are clear.

“This will enable anyone left without power to make plans.”

Victoria’s electricity distribution businesses and customers without power:

AusNet Services: Outer east and outer northern Melbourne, eastern and north-eastern Victoria: 112,272

CitiPower: Melbourne CBD and inner suburbs: 50

Jemena: North-west Melbourne: 8

Powercor Australia: Outer western suburbs of Melbourne, and central and western Victoria: 3229

United Energy: South-east Melbourne, and Mornington Peninsula: 12,184

A severe thunderstorm hit the region on Tuesday afternoon bringing damaging winds to the region.

Power, internet and mobile phone outages were prevalent across South Gippsland following the storm, and many roads were impacted by trees and debris, the council said in a statement.

Williams said many Mirboo North residents were facing an uphill battle as they began to rebuild homes and businesses.

“Mirboo North is unrecognisable,” she said.

“As you’re driving in there’s trees that have just been uplifted from the ground.”

Williams said the most urgent work was getting roads cleared, so residents could get to their homes and check on family members.

Parts of the South Gippsland Shire remained without power at 5pm on Wednesday with many people still waiting to hear when it would be restored.

“I wish I had a crystal ball because it’s one of those top questions that people are asking,” Williams said.

“We’ve brought a number of sites back online overnight and this morning, including a large number in the Gippsland region, but with the power outages continuing there’s still a lot to do,” Telstra Regional General Manager Steve Tinker said.

“We know how important it is to stay in touch with loved ones during times like this, and we are working to get everything back online as quickly as possible where it’s safe for our technicians to do so.

Optus manager Jayson Grool said that, like Telstra, his company was looking to deploy portable generators to affected areas once assessments could be made.