Thousands of Ballarat residents have been left without power and a number of the city's major roads have been blocked off with ferocious winds of almost 100 kilometres per hour sweeping through on Sunday.
A 70-year-old man was among the victims of the wild weather when a tree fell on his right leg at around 1.30pm while playing golf at the Buninyong Golf Club. He was taken to the Ballarat Base Hospital by ambulance and treated for minor injuries.
Elsewhere in the state the wild winds proved fatal, with a 50-year-old woman killed at Millgrove when a tree fell on her house.
Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Victorian Emergency Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley said the combination of recent wet weather and strong winds meant trees were far more likely to be uprooted.
A portion of La Trobe Street in Delacombe was also shut for around an hour between 2pm and 3pm after winds damaged a structure behind the La Trobe Street Caltex, breaking a pipe and causing an unidentified liquid to spray into the air.
Drivers were forced to approach a number of major intersections with additional caution during the day, with the lights at Macarthur Street and Creswick Road as well as Lydiard and Mair Streets both dropping out.
Around 10,000 homes across the city were left powerless due to trees around the city falling on powerlines. Four-thousand of the outages were due to a felled tree in Wendouree, with those customers coming back online at 5pm.
While Powercor hoped to have the remaining 6000 customers returned to power by 10pm, it had not identified the fault by 6.30pm.
Earlier in the day a tree fell across the Daylesford Road exit to the M8 in Wendouree around 11am, blocking traffic until SES crews could clear it.
The 10-to-15 metre gum tree had torn out of a roadside embankment and toppled onto the road, causing traffic to veer into oncoming lanes to avoid it.
A large tree also fell onto a home in Sebastopol, causing minor damage.
Other falls around the city caused headaches for emergency services and drivers alike, with Sturt Street, Wendouree Parade, Windermere Street and Margaret Street in Wendouree all blocked off.
Further out towards Pootilla, an extremely large tree fell, crushing a TAC sign. Other trees fell in Dunnstown and towards Clunes, and were cleared by CFA and SES members.
Emergency services will take some comfort from the upcoming weather forecast, with the wind expected to subside on Monday.
