Wild weather has caused widespread power outages across much of the state, including the Ballarat region overnight.
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With damaging winds battering the area all night, the State Emergency Service has been extremely busy, with 136 requests for assistance to the mid-west region.
The mid-west region covers much of western Victoria, but an SES spokesperson told The Courier this morning the majority of the incidents were located in the Ballarat and and Hepburn shires.
Wind gusts reached 74km/h in Ballarat at 3am on Thursday and hovered around 50km/h throughput the entire night.
Areas across the state have seen wind gusts above 110km/h, including:
- 124km/h at Hogan Island at 9:06pm
- 119km/h at Puckapunyal at 10:01pm
- 115km/h at Wilsons Prom at 9:37pm
- 115km/h at Mt William at 10:52pm
- 109km/h at Mt Buller at 6:16pm
- 104km/h at Kilmore Gap at 9:16pm
- 98km/h at Redesdale at 4:08am
A severe weather warning remains in place this morning, but winds are expected to ease throughout the day.
The Ballarat SES unit alone responded to 62 calls, while Hepburn received 49 calls.
Statewide there has been more than 3400 calls, mostly in eastern Victoria for flooding and wind damage.
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Daylesford and Trentham had seven calls each, while there were five calls in Ballarat North.
The storms left thousands without power overnight, with Powercor reporting more than 27,000 statewide customers without electricity at about 6.45am.
Most of the Ballarat area had been spared by the morning, although there were some reported outages overnight.
However, many areas surrounding Ballarat was still suffering outages.
Powercor's Head of Network Control James Walker said crews work year-round to ensure the network is as safe and reliable as possible, but extreme weather can cause blackouts.
"Strong winds and extreme weather can knock over trees and blow other debris into powerlines and this can cause faults and outages," Mr Walker said.
"We understand many people are working and studying from home during these latest COVID-19 restrictions so any power outage is inconvenient.
"We are monitoring this weather front and will have extra crews available to respond quickly if faults do occur.
"Importantly, customers should make sure to stay well away from any fallen powerlines and report them to us straight away."
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