Australia Weather News

Victoria's State Emergency Service (SES) has received around 500 calls for helpas wild weather lashed the state.

Heavy rain has fallen over Melbourne withFrankston receiving 43 millimetres of rain in two hours on Friday morning.

Melbourne Airport recorded 34mm in the city's north, Moorabbin in the south-east had more than 30mm while Avalon in the west also had 34mm.

Geelong received 67mm since 9am.

Drivers were caught in flash flooding in many areas of the state, including in Frankston, where submerged cars had to be pulled from inundated roads.

A number of outbound lanes of the Monash Freeway under Toorak Road were closed due to flooding, causing heavy congestion on Melbourne's busiest roadway.

Mid-afternoon ground operations were put on hold at Melbourne Airport due to thunderstorms, causing some delays.  

A spokesperson for the airport said some planes were able to take-off and land, subject to pilot discretion. 

Storms continued to roll in across Melbourne throughout the day, but conditions were expected to settle in the evening.

During the afternoon, warnings were issued for "very dangerous storms" in various parts of the state's south-west, including Bannockburn, Lara and Geelong.

The storms were part of a deep low pressure system that moved eastward across the state, accompanied by a warm and humid air mass.

SES state duty officer Kate Turner says there were concerns that north-east communities could see similar damage as seen in Wednesday's storm in Victoria's west.

"What we saw in Casterton was a supercell storm, and it had a hook in it as well which essentially means it wasn't quite a tornado, it doesn't meet the criteria, but we're certainly approaching that point," she said.

Ms Turner said preparation for a tornado was largely similar to preparations for high winds.

"Tornadoes are certainly a little bit unusual for us, but it is something that the Bureau has forecast … we had a heads up a couple of days ago, so it's something that's come into the range today," she said.

"Parking your car away from trees, but the main one is to stay indoors where you can. Really reconsider your travel today. If you don't need to be outside, please don't be and certainly if you come across a flooded road, you need to turn around. You cannot be driving through floodwater.

Winds strengthened in the early hours of the morning, knocking out power to about1,800 homes in the Goulburn Murray, including in Tatura and Murchison.

Almost all were reconnected by late afternoon but another 1,700 homes and businesses were blacked out in the state's east.

Residents cleaning up in state's west

In Ballarat, Simone Baur-Schmid received a phone call at 9:20am on Friday from a distressed staff member telling her the restaurant she co-owns was flooding.

"We quickly ran over to have a look at what was going on and, unfortunately, we found the whole restaurant had water coming right through the back door all the way through to the front," Ms Baur-Schmid said.

"It just ripped through the restaurant, bar flooring, vinyl has come up, the back staircase is timber which has now lost some integrity and the dining areas are obviously now full of dirt, debris and mud."

She said she would normally have 80 customers in the restaurant for lunch.

Clean-up efforts continued in Casterton in Victoria's west after Wednesday night's torrential rain and hailstones as large as 4cm in diameter.

Local Renee Kiley said many homes and businesses in the town had caved-in roofs, smashed windows and were damaged by flash flooding.

"It's just carnage absolutely everywhere … you wouldn't think that Mother Nature could be so cruel," Ms Kiley said.

"I think everyone's just a little bit overwhelmed with it, just speaking to people, they all look a bit shattered in their faces and just a bit broken.

"But community spirit always drives high at times like this, and everyone's just out helping each other … just too many houses for the SES to get to."

She estimated she had suffered more than $5,000 in losses before calculating any cost of repairs.

"It's a huge shock to our trade, the loss of stock with our fresh fruit and vegetables, and now we have the underlying question of whether we can't open for dinner tonight."

The Department of Health had forecast a moderate risk of thunderstorm asthma for the Mallee and Northern Country.

For SES assistance, call 132 500 and for life-threatening emergencies call 000.