THE city emerged relatively unscathed after a barrage of wind and rain on Thursday.
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Gusts reached 86 kilometres an hour, but the extent of the local damage was a gumtree falling on a roof in Haymes Road, Mount Clear.
The crash of the tree hitting the roof startled neighbour Judy Hall.
She said she thought her roof was being torn off when she heard the big crack.
“It was the tree smashing onto (our neighbour’s) roof,” Ms Hall said.
State Emergency Service (SES) mid-west duty officer Kendra Clegg said Ballarat took more than half of the 24 Grampians region jobs.
“All things considered, I think we’ve done pretty well,” she said.
Most jobs the SES was called to were fallen trees causing traffic hazards, she said.
“It’s a big reminder that with these winds you never really know how strong they’re going to be or what they’re going do,” Ms Clegg said.
Weatherzone meteorologist Rob Sharpe said it had been a wild and windy day for the state on Thursday.
He said heavy rains came in the mid afternoon, but backed off as the afternoon went on.
“Across Victoria, everyone saw heavy north-westerly winds, then rain coming with a westerly change.”
It came off the back of a windy night, with gusty winds reaching 65km/h.
Mr Sharpe said another cold front was expected on Friday morning.
“Places higher than Ballarat might see snow on Friday,” she said.
Mr Sharpe said the week would remain cool, with Saturday morning expected to be frosty, dropping to minus two degrees, before clearing to be a dry and sunny day.
william.vallely@fairfaxmedia.com.au
nicole.cairns@fairfaxmedia.com.au