More than 10,000 homes and businesses remain without power this morning due to wild winds that lashed Ballarat and surrounds in the last 48 hours.
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Although the weather has settled and rain has mostly stopped, the destruction left from the storms is going to take todays to clear.
Much of the Central Highlands/Central Victoria areas remain without power on Friday morning.
Trentham residents in particular have been hit extremely hard and have even been told not to use any tap water as supplies are desperately low.
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Lancefield (1311 customers), Kyneton (1157), Romsey (2412), Trentham (868) and Woodend (1196) are the biggest towns to remain without power as of 7am on Friday.
In total there were more than 12,821 customers without power.
A further update about area is expected to be issued before 8am on Friday.
Coliban Water managing director Damian Wells has taken to Twitter to post an update this morning.
He says the town's water reply is "stable" but remains at just 17%.
Meanwhile, a man has died and two volunteers are in hospital after a storm front wreaked havoc through eastern Victoria.
Trees crashed onto homes, powerlines were cut and in the Gippsland area, flood warnings were issued.
Emergency services were called to Starlings Lane in Woodside about 1.45pm on Thursday after a member of the public discovered a vehicle almost submerged in floodwaters.
A rescue team found the man, possibly aged in his 60s, dead in the vehicle.
Victoria Police are investigating and will prepare a report for the coroner.
About 60 kilometres north, evacuation warnings remain in place as floodwaters are rapidly rising.
Emergency authorities are strongly recommending residents, workers and holiday- makers near Traralgon Creek evacuate after parts of west Gippsland recorded rainfall totals over 270mm.
With flooding expected to impact more than 220 homes, people have been told to travel to a safe location such as a family member or friend's home.
A relief centre has been set up at the Traralgon Basketball Stadium for those with nowhere to go.
Traralgon Creek has risen to nearly six metres, although it is expected to fall below the major flood level of 4.8 metres on Thursday evening.
There are other active major flood warnings across the West Gippsland catchment including the Avon, Macalister, Thomson, and Latrobe rivers.
Those already in a safe place are urged to stay put for the next 48 to 72 hours, when most of the flooding is expected to move through communities.
By lunchtime Thursday, emergency services had already been called to a dozen flood rescues in Gippsland.
"We can't emphasise enough that driving into floodwaters is the greatest risk you can take," Victorian SES chief Tim Wiebusch said.
"That is the number one thing where we see fatalities during flooding."
The SES has responded to about 6000 calls for help and it's expected to take days to clear the backlog.
Most of the calls were for fallen trees, though there were some for flash flooding and building damage.
At Sherbrooke east of Melbourne, an ambulance was crushed by a falling tree as it raced to where a woman and her son were trapped.
The paramedic was shaken but escaped injured, with the woman and her child later freed by police.
Two SES members were not so lucky and had to be taken to hospital with non-life- threatening injuries after separate tree-related incidents. They are in a stable condition.
West and south Gippsland not only dealt with intense rain and flooding but also destructive winds, emergency service meteorologist Kevin Parkin said.
"Many people would have woken up this morning and seen absolute carnage out there," he said.
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