3pm
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The Emergency Services Minister Jaclyn Symes announced earlier this afternoon that the worst of Victoria's windy weather has past.
The windstorm caused widespread damage to homes across the state, but thankfully there has not been any report of persons injured
Mount William in the Grampians saw winds of up to 143 kilometres per hour between 6am and 8am Friday morning, which Victoria SES chief operations officer Tim Wiebusch confirmed was the peak of the storm.
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There has been around 3000 calls for assistance to the SES line relating to the storm - 2300 calls relating to trees coming down and 490 about building damage.
So far, only 7 homes across the state have seen significant damage.
Minister Symes thanked emergency service personal for their ongoing efforts and called for patience from those Victorians calling the SES line (132 500).
"(3000) is a significant amount of calls, about half of those calls are still outstanding," she said.
"If you call that number please be patient there is around about a half an hour delay in getting that answer called."
If you are in immediate danger to call triple 000, Ms Symes said.
"We are asking neighbours to check on neighbours, see how people are going," she said.
"We don't have advice that there are any communities that are isolated but we do want people to check on each other.
"We do ask people to be patient, if you need help call 132 500 and assistance will be available."
While the worst of this storm is set to pass - with the front moving out of Victoria between six and 7pm tonight according to Mr Wiebusch - Minister Symes said similar weather is expected in the state next week.
"We do have advice that the forecast is we may experience significant winds and unsettled weather next week," she said.
"We will have emergency personal working with local councils, cleaning the debris and helping people with their trees in preparation."
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Energy Minister Lily De'Ambrosio said 526,000 Victorians lost power this morning.
She said power companies were working hard to get people reconnected.
Currently 328,000 people remain without power.
"It is good news, but it has been a significant event and it will take time to have the last of communities and streets come back on power," she said.
The minister urged people to remain vigilant around fallen power lines.
"Stay safe. Don't try to do anything yourself out of frustration because the consequences can be quite unforgiving," she said.
"Stay safe. Wait for the technician."
11am
Bendigo SES deputy controller Natalie Stanway said the unit was kept extremely busy overnight.
"If we look across the state, the Bendigo unit has been the busiest and we have had 76 jobs since 4pm yesterday afternoon," she said.
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"Fortunately we have cleared almost all of those jobs and we only have about four that are outstanding and our intention is that we will have those done by the end of the day."
Ms Stanway said the storm damage was highly concentrated in the Kennington and Strathdale areas.
She warned locals to be careful when driving today.
"We always need to make sure that we are driving to conditions, everyone just needs to be a little more careful today," she said.
"Even though we had a significant amount of trees down last night, there will also be trees that were weakened last night which will fall today so people just need to be mindful where they park their car or walk today."
Ms Stanway said the Marong SES unit sent teams to the city to help with the clean-up efforts on Thursday.
Residents across the region have been sharing pictures of the storm and it's damage.
Laura Kinsman shared this photo last night.
7.30am
V/Line Bendigo services are expected to be delayed following wild weather overnight.
"Due to extreme weather conditions across the state, train services will be held in place until tracks can be cleared from debris," the service said via Twitter.
Coaches have been deployed across the network to assist with travel.
6am
Wild weather has thrashed parts of central Victoria overnight, bringing trees down, damaging homes and cutting power to thousands of residents.
The State Emergency Service responded to over 600 calls for help across the state after a night of strong winds left a trail of destruction.
The Bendigo SES unit alone responded to 60 requests overnight Thursday, while there were more across the central Victoria region.
The vast majority of calls were for fallen trees, but there were also a number of reports of building damage.
Taking to Facebook, Bendigo SES thanked the Marong SES who sent three vehicles and 12 crews to assist.
"Together with our 5 vehicles we've been running hard for a number of hours and still have about 15 jobs outstanding," they said late Thursday night.
Victoria SES said Bendigo was among the busiest volunteer units in the state, in front of Ballarat and Monash.
More damage is expected to be discovered as the morning progresses.
If you need to call SES, please call 132 50
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