Grit filled the air close to housing developments off Tait Street in south-western Ballarat, with gusts causing dirt to swirl in clouds and onto the road.

WATCH: Dust sweeps across road opposite Bonshaw estate

Much of the dust seemed to be caused by an excavator at a nearby housing estate, which continued operating for a short time while the wind speeds grew.

The Courier witnessed the conditions just before 4.30pm in the afternoon.

Shortly afterwards, the excavators at the nearby housing development had stopped work.

The stormy conditions seemed to affect Creswick most severely in the local area, with several trees reported down as well as a major power outage affecting much of the town.

By late afternoon the conditions had turned the sky an unusual colour red tinge in central Ballarat.

The Bureau of Meteorology was reporting a strong chance of a thunderstorm later in the evening.

It continues a week of highly unusual conditions in the area, most notably with the highly localised lightning and 200ml of rainfall in Burrumbeet on Sunday night, described by one observer as a one-in-200-year storm.

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