UPDATE, SUNDAY 5.30pm:
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Power is still out for 1700 Powercor customers, as of Sunday afternoon.
About 249 customers remain without power in the Ballarat region.
A Powercor spokesperson said crews would continue working to restore power into the evening.
"We do expect those numbers to fall further but will have some customers off into tomorrow, particularly those associated with single premises faults," the spokesperson said.
UPDATE, SUNDAY 3pm:
Ballarat SES crews are working hard to get through all calls for assistance on Sunday following Friday's storm event.
Volunteers have worked around the clock since Thursday afternoon when the storm first hit, responding to more than 230 jobs in total.
Ballarat SES incident controller Gordon Hicks said 14 jobs were outstanding and it had been a massive team effort to work through hundreds of calls for assistance.
"We have a lot of people to thank for this work," he said.
A crew from Ararat is helping Ballarat volunteers for the third day and a team from South Barwon is responding to rooftop jobs around Lal Lal and Napoleons.
"Both crews coming to help us today have been working flat out the day before and the day before that," Mr Hicks said.
"They have jumped in and said we have finished our patch, let's give Ballarat a hand. They are all volunteers, it is just fantastic.
"We are doing everything we can to finish up with night crew tonight."
Mr Hicks said volunteers had given up three or four days of their normal lives and will be exhausted going back to their paid jobs on Monday.
Most jobs remaining are related to rooftop damage.
An example of roof work being completed today was getting on top of a two storey house to attend to broken tiles.
Mr Hicks said there had still been priority one jobs coming through overnight, which is emergency life impacting situations like trees down over roads.
He warned members of the community to stay vigilant on the roads this week, as tree limbs and unstable trees could continue to fall onto roads.
"We are still wary of the next 24 hours, with higher traffic densities and still a lot of debris on the roads," Mr Hicks said.
"We are asking everyone to drive cautiously for the next weeks. There are tree branches that can drop onto a road without notice, especially in the rural areas around Ballarat."
Mr Hicks said there were still one or two powerlines down in people's backyards and City of Ballarat and Powercor crews were continuing to work hard.
UPDATE, SUNDAY 11.30am:
Hundreds of properties in Ballarat and the surrounding region remain without power following wild storms on Friday.
A Powercor spokesperson confirmed 286 customers in the Ballarat region were continuing to experience power outages.
A total of 1900 homes and businesses remain without power across the state.
Most of those, almost 700 are in Melbourne's western suburbs and almost 600 in Geelong and the Surf Coast.
A Powercor spokesperson said crews were continuing to work to address the outages and were expecting to restore power to most customers on Sunday.
The spokesperson said some single premises could remain without power until Monday.
UPDATE, SATURDAY 12.30pm:
Ballarat State Emergency Services crews are continuing to work around the clock cleaning up and making areas safe after storms lashed Ballarat on Friday.
The extensive damage across the city includes a house on Talbot Street in Redan that is now uninhabitable with a large tree from the front yard resting on its roof.
Ballarat SES has received a total of 228 jobs around Ballarat since the weather event hit on Thursday afternoon.
Volunteers are now on their third day of work.
Ballarat SES incident controller Gordon Hicks said 55 jobs were outstanding.
He said two thirds of the jobs completed had been in response to fallen trees and trees fallen on roads which posed a traffic hazard.
SES crews from Ararat and Gisborne are assisting the response effort in Ballarat.
Five crews are working through jobs on Saturday, with a team of six volunteers at the headquarters.
We are all volunteers, we are not getting paid to be here and a lot of people are taking time off work so I want to reiterate to people we are just like them. We are really really putting a lot into this.
- Gordon Hicks, Ballarat SES incident controller
"We are still getting the odd tree on house and tree down traffic hazards, either on roads where very few people drive down or trees that are still falling today," Mr Hicks said.
"There are still branches coming loose or they have broken the last couple of days and now they are finally dropping to the ground."
Mr Hicks said the majority of the remaining 55 jobs relate to roof damage, roof leaks, or trees on structures.
"There is one particular job in Redan where a tree has fallen on two hoses and has impacted both properties," he said.
"One house is particularly damaged and a good example of where the house itself is probably not liveable and the residents will have to move out."
Mr Hicks said residents should call 132 500 to report any hazards and be patient if the line is busy as there are lots of calls coming through.
He said he also encouraged people to be careful driving around this weekend.
"There is still a lot of debris on the roads and still a few branches that are on the side of the road," he said.
"Until we get it tidied up properly, be careful out there driving. With our current traffic density it is not making it any easier.
"We are all volunteers, we are not getting paid to be here and a lot of people are taking time off work so I want to reiterate to people we are just like them. We are really really putting a lot into this."
Mr Hicks reminded residents SES only responds to emergency repairs, so residents should get in a contractor for other jobs.
"If a job can be done by a contractor rather than us by all means get a contractor in. They may be waiting for a long time for us to get to them," he said.
Mr Hicks said he thanked DELWP, council, SES volunteers, CFA and police for working so well together in the storm response.
UPDATE, SATURDAY 10am:
Power is expected to be restored to most residents across Ballarat and Victoria by Saturday afternoon following Friday's severe weather, however some may remain without power until Sunday.
A statement released by Powercor on Saturday morning reveals 2117 residences and businesses remain without power in Ballarat.
Areas surrounding Ballarat also remain without power, including 682 customers in Daylesford.
"Crews worked throughout the night and are on the ground today repairing poles and wires damaged by fallen trees and branches during the wild weather," the Powercor statement said.
"Last night, crews restored power to Lorne, Blackwood and the majority of the Apollo Bay township, as well as the Bendigo region.
"We have also been reducing the number of customers without power throughout the other regions affected by the storms."
RELATED COVERAGE: Ballarat businesses suffer another huge blow as weather wreaks havoc
Powercor said extra crews have been working to attend faults in areas that sustained the most damage, but there was a possibility some customers may be without power supply until Sunday.
"This has been a difficult situation for many of our customers and we do thank them for their patience as we work to repair the damage and restore power safely," Powercor said.
"We will continue updating estimated restoration times at www.powercor.com.au and through our contact centre.
"If people do see a fallen powerline, they should always stay well away from them and report them to us immediately on 13 24 12."
A number of roads around Ballarat remain closed including near Lake Wendouree and the Ballarat Botanic Gardens.
UPDATE, FRIDAY 5pm:
Power outages across the state could continue into the weekend, Powercor has revealed, as crews continue to work to restore power to communities.
People travelling across the state this weekend are encouraged to check whether power is affected at their destination and to be cautious on the roads.
More than 12,500 households and businesses remain without power in Ballarat.
A Powercor statement reveals Ballarat is considered a priority area for power restoration.
We understand that many people have been looking forward to this long weekend after such a difficult time, and we are working as safely and as quickly as possible to get power back on.
- Powercor
Crews has restored power to more than 100,000 homes and business across Victoria in the last 24 hours, but more than 54,100 in western Victoria and Melbourne's inner suburbs remain in the dark.
"More than 300 field crew resources have been active on the ground across multiple areas throughout the day to do what is necessary to restore power," the Powercor statement said.
"They are supported by more than 200 vegetation specialists, technical support, control room, fault response and other experts focused on identifying and restoring power safely and quickly.
"Our priorities are towns with the most significant damage and customers impacted in and around Apollo Bay, Lorne, Terang, Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Colac, Warrnambool, Trentham, Blackwood and Kyneton.
"We have mobilised generators to the surf coast, and Kyneton regions.
"Our crews are continuing to assess the extent of the damage, caused by fallen trees and branches, as well as lightning strikes.
"We currently responding to more than 1000 faults, including approximately 400 fallen powerlines.
"Based on the assessments conducted, we expect some customers will be without power over the weekend.
"We understand that many people have been looking forward to this long weekend after such a difficult time, and we are working as safely and as quickly as possible to get power back on."
A number of schools remained closed on Friday due to the outages, including Emmaus Catholic Primary School, Our Lady Help of Christians Primary School, Siena Catholic Primary School, St Aloysius Parish School, St Francis Xavier Primary School, St Patrick's Parish Primary School, Ballarat Central St Thomas More School.
Parents were given a choice for children to stay home or attend school at Mount Clear Primary School, Alfredton Primary School and Ballarat North Primary School.
EARLIER: Wild weather has lashed Ballarat overnight, with reports of mass power outages throughout the state.
Ballarat State Emergency Services volunteers are working throughout the region to respond to 98 calls for assistance.
Ballarat SES Duty Officer Gordon Hicks told The Courier at 10.30am on Friday teams were working through 79 active jobs, with about 19 already completed.
The majority of calls were for fallen trees, but there were also a number of reports of building damage, including flooding, roof damage and trees on houses.
Mr Hicks said a large tree had fallen on a house in Mount Helen.
Three Ballarat SES crews, about 10 volunteers, are working with crews from DELWP, City of Ballarat and Wendouree and Buninyong CFA volunteers.
About six volunteers are working from the Gillies Street headquarters as part of the Ballarat SES incident management crew and liaising with Victoria Police.
IN OTHER NEWS
Mr Hicks said calls for assistance covered all areas of Ballarat.
He said crews started working in Smythesdale and Linton, areas which were hard hit.
Volunteers have been responding to calls since the early hours of Friday morning, as early as 3am, following on from about five hours of work on Thursday afternoon.
Mr Hicks said crews prioritised any life-threatening situations, including trees across driveways and roads that could prevent urgent transport.
"We have quite a few crews out attending so we will work through them moderately quickly," he said.
"We are still receiving a lot of jobs coming in. We expect more jobs to be coming in throughout the day and to have a crew work through the night."
A number of roads throughout the region are closed due to fallen trees.
"Please drive with caution and expect a lot of debris on the road," Mr Hicks said.
"Some of the roads are slippery and please do note park underneath trees."
Mr Hicks thanked members of the community for their patience due to issues with the SES 132 500 line on Friday morning.
A number of primary schools have also closed their doors for the day and will return to online learning.
The COVID testing Clinic on Creswick Road has also been closed, with all staff redeployed to the UFS testing clinic on Dana Street.
The extreme winds reached their peak between 5am and 6am in Ballarat, with gusts reaching 100km/h a number of times.
There are more than 140 different electricity faults throughout Powercor's electricity network, including reports of dozens of fallen powerlines.
Crews are working to restore power to more than 171,000 homes and businesses across the state.
In some areas, power is expected to be out into the weekend.
Severe winds and gusts of more than 100km/h brought down trees and branches onto powerlines, and damaged poles and other infrastructure.
Powercor said in a statement 148,000 customers without power in the Powercor network, with Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Kyneton, Terang and Melbourne's western suburbs among hardest hit areas.
"While extra crews have been mobilised to get power back onto homes as safely and as quickly as possible, the extensive damage means estimated restoration times will be longer than usual and some customers will be without power over the weekend," the statement said.
"We do understand many people are working and studying from home at this time, and thank them for their understanding as we work to respond to these outages."
Despite the wild storms, there has only been nine millimetres of rain fall overnight in Ballarat.
Winds are expected to ease over western districts by mid-Friday morning.
Ballarat police are encouraging people to exercise extreme caution in the conditions.
"We ask that everyone drives to the conditions and is aware of all the trees that have fallen across the region," Sergeant Peter Brown said.
City of Ballarat said in an online post its teams were working with SES and other emergency services to make affected areas as safe as possible.
"We are encouraging community members to avoid high risk areas as more strong winds are forecast," the online statement said.
"Areas such as Lake Wendouree and Victoria Park should be avoided where possible at this time and please be vigilant if you do need to venture out.
"Please also be patient as there will be delays in some services and traffic lights may be out in parts of the city, so be careful and considerate on the roads."
The Ballarat Transfer Station is closed due to weather making the site unsafe and there is no power on site to operate.
Mr King said City of Ballarat will offer free green waste drop off at the Ballarat Transfer Station from October 30 to November 26.
"We want to help the community do the clean up and leading into a fire season we want to make sure everyone can clean up," he said.
City of Ballarat's website says the Ballarat Botanical Gardens suffered 'extensive' and 'devastating' damage to the gardens and will be closed until the site can be made safe.
Wildlife rescuers and carers are asking the community to keep an eye out for displaced and injured wildlife.
The storms, high winds and number of trees that have fallen will have resulted in many animals seeking out a safe place to shelter.
Helen Round has asked people to check their properties, including sheds and garages for wildlife, and to carefully check around fallen trees for any birds, possums and bats that could be trapped or hurt.
She also warned people to be extra vigilant when driving as some wildlife may be disorientated.
If it is possible, members of the public should wrap injured wildlife in a towel, place in a container and take the animal to a vet. If they cannot transport the animal themselves, they can call Wildlife Victoria.
For wildlife assistance call Wildlife Victoria on 8400 7300.
City of Ballarat chief executive Evan King said animal management officers were out on Thursday night and Friday morning to ensure all pets that may have escaped in fear during the storms were safe.
Energy Safe Victoria has warned people to stand at least eight to 10 metres away if they come across fallen powerlines.
The independent energy safety regulator has also warned residents not to attempt to connect a generator to the wiring of their home as it is dangerous and illegal.
A generator should only be used outside, with an extension cord to supply power direct to appliances such as the fridge or freezer.
When there is a power cut, make sure heating and cooking appliances are turned off (there is a risk of fire if they come back on and there is no one at the property).
Households still without power after electricity supply has been restored should seek the help of their electricity distributor.
Check the ESV website if you are unsure of your distributor. The problem could be a fault in the supply line to the property, or a fault within the property's electrical installation.
If you need to call SES, please call 132 500.
Stay aware from fallen power lines and report them on 13 24 12.
Visit powercor.com.au for information.
Visit ballarat.vic.gov.au/stormresponse for information from City of Ballarat.
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