Victorians are waking to the aftermath of wild storms with the west of the state bearing the brunt of the damage.
Flash flooding warnings were given to Geelong locals on Thursday before the storm dumped a mammoth 30mm of rain in just 20 minutes about 8.30pm.
Streets in the suburb of Belmont were among those to become submerged in water as cars struggled to pass through.
The SES fielded a total of 414 calls across the state on Thursday night with 181 for floods, 126 building damage 78 trees down and 14 frantic calls for rescue.
South Barwon was the most impacted area, receiving 120 calls, followed by Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula with 37.
State Agency Commander David Tucek said Victorians should be vigilant as wild weather is expected to continue across the weekend.
“It only takes 15cm of water to float a small car,” he said.
Duty forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology Miriam Bradbury said the western parts of the state bore the brunt of the weather’s force.
“Later in the afternoon we really saw the thunderstorm activity ramping up against western districts, which continued until the early evening,” she said.
“It eventually reached the eastern suburbs of Melbourne but really weakened off as it travelled east.”
The chaos also included a 139km/h wind gust at Horsham.
Ms Bradbury said Victorians could expect more wild weather after a lull earlier on Friday.
“Probably it’s going to be pretty quiet this morning, but once we reach that late morning period that will be when potential for more severe thunderstorms is greatest,” she said.
“But the risk of severe storms is easing off tomorrow morning so they’ll just be normal thunderstorms.”
Despite the downpours, Melbourne is expected to hit a top of 31C on Friday, with the mercury staying above 20C on Thursday night.
