Emergency services have been busy across Geelong and the Surf Coast as wild weather lashes most of the region.
Geelong hit a maximum of 40 degrees just before 2pm, before a cool change swept across the city, bringing with it severe storms, hail and heavy winds.
Hail and heavy falls have been reported in Lara, with almost 100 calls for help for building damage and trees down within the space of about half an hour.
There are also reports of powerlines down along Keys Rd, while a tree has fallen across Bacchus Marsh Rd just outside the Barwon Prison facility.
McLelland Rd has also been blocked off with trees falling across the road and damaging powerlines (pictured above).
Wind gusts as strong as 122km/h were recorded at 2.19pm in Avalon, with the temperature reaching 41 degrees in Lara only less than half an hour earlier at 1.56pm.
Several locals also reported power outages, Powercor has listed Lara’s outage as ‘under investigation’ with expected restoration not until 10.30pm at this stage.
“We saw gusts of 122km/h at Avalon, likely gusts of that magnitude. potentially more, is what resulted in the damage to the transmission lines near Anakie,” Kevin Parkham from the Bureau of Meteorology said.
“Incredibly (it reached) 41 degrees at Avalon ahead of the wind change and the temperature dropped by about 15 degrees, down to 26 degrees in 15 minutes, ahead of a thunderstorm,” he said.
A watch and act alert for thunderstorms has since moved through to eastern parts of Melbourne.
For up to date power outages: www.powercor.com.au/power-outages-and-emergencies/live-outage-map/
For emergency advice head to VicEmergency: www.emergency.vic.gov.au/
