One home lost in western Victorian bushfire as severe thunderstorms and flash flooding forecast for eastern Victoria
In short:
Bushfires are continuing to burn in Victoria's west, with at least one home lost so far.
Severe thunderstorms and damaging winds were forecast for north-eastern Victoria throughout Sunday.
For the latest bushfire and emergency information, head to the VicEmergency website.
Bushfires have continued to burn across Victoria's west on Sunday, while thunderstorms have left thousands of homes in the state's north and east without power.
At least one home has been destroyed in a fire in the Wimmera region, and there are fears two more homes may have been lost in the blazes.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) issued a severe weather warning for parts of the south-west coast on Sunday afternoon, with possible damaging winds forecast.
A severe weather warning had been in place for Victoria’s north-east ranges, but the BOM said heavy rainfall and damaging winds had eased in the region.
Severe weather warnings were also removed for Gippsland districts .
Residents in several communities in the state's west have been advised to evacuate. (Supplied: Nic Newby)
Hot and windy conditions on Saturday saw the spread of several fires across hundreds of hectares of land, with communities in the state's west urged to evacuate.
Residents in communities along the Great Ocean Road have been advised to leave now as a bushfire travels from Chapple Vale in a southerly direction towards the coast.
Those communities include Chapple Vale, Crowes, Gellibrand Lower, Johanna, Johanna Heights, Lavers Hill, Stalker, Wangerrip, Wattle Hill, Yuulong and Wattle Hill to the Great Ocean Walk.
On Sunday afternoon Victorian State Control Centre spokesperson Luke Hegarty said crews had slowed the spread of the Chapple Vale fire.
About 10 hikers were evacuated from the area, with walkers west of Cape Otway advised to move to a large, open-area ploughed paddock, football oval or sporting reserve; or a large body of water such as a dam, lake, river or in-ground pool.
Traffic has reopened along the Great Ocean Road, but visitors are warned to avoid the area.
Emergency services are also continuing to fight a separate blaze that began in a blue gum plantation near Kadnook, south of Edenhope, and burned through about 1,200 hectares of land.
Mr Hegarty said authorities have "got the upper hand on the fire itself and have slowed its forward spread, which was something that crews did a great job of working on yesterday".
But the Country Fire Authority said the fire was not yet under control and it was not yet safe to return.
Loading...Cool change to bring relief to bushfires
Weather conditions are expected to improve over the course of Sunday, with the Bureau of Meteorology's Jonathan How saying areas affected by bushfires are starting to receive some relief.
"We are now seeing that cool change move through, so through western Victoria we are seeing a few spots of rain," Mr How said.
"We've seen a couple of millimetres around Edenhope. That's where that Grampians fire is."
The fire on Casterton-Edenhope Road continued to burn on Sunday. (Supplied: Forest Fire Management Victoria)
Edenhope Country Fire Authority (CFA) group officer Peter Irving said even with the rain, more work needed to be done to fight the fires.
"The rain won't bring it under control but it will definitely help our attack this morning," he said.
"There will be crews that were potentially going to come that won't come because of the rain, and the fire activity once it starts drying out again, it'll spark up again."
Peter Irving says one man lost his home in the blaze south of Edenhope. (ABC News: Angus Verley)
Mr Irving was among the first responders to the fire near Kadnook. He said it grew at tremendous speed.
"It was just phenomenal how quickly the column of smoke built from the time we left Edenhope to the time we spotted it. It just bloomed up," he said.
"Run through the blue gums, it would have gone probably gone 3km to 4km in what must have been no time at all."
Mr Irving said one home was lost in the fire, where a man was evacuated by emergency services.
"It was a gentleman pretty much living there by himself … that only thing he had was the clothes he was standing in," he said.
Edenhope CFA's deputy group officer, Stuart Grigg, said he was cautious it could take weeks for the danger to subside.
He also warned of a potentially intense fire season ahead.
"The worst part we got is this has all happened right at the start of the fire season, and we're going to have to probably deal with this for quite a long time yet, which is really, really going to be tough on resources," he said.
Mr Hegarty said conditions were forecast to ease over the next few days, with moderate fire danger ratings expected for Tuesday.
Heavy rain and damaging winds to lash eastern Victoria
While a cool change brings relief to western Victoria, conditions are expected to worsen in Gippsland, in the state's east, bringing severe weather.
Mr How said eastern Victoria, border regions in NSW and northern parts of Tasmania might be hit with severe thunderstorms and damaging winds.
"This cold front is dragging down a lot of tropical moisture from Queensland and we are already seeing some thunderstorms develop about the alpine areas," Mr How said.
Wind gusts of up to 130kph are expected, with 60 to 80mm of rain also forecast with the possibility of flash flooding.
Locations which may be affected include Seymour, Wodonga, Wangaratta, Corryong, Bright and Falls Creek.
Heavy winds brought down several powerlines in Shepparton on Sunday, after a storm tore through the region just after 5:30am.
The SES said it has received 200 calls for assistance across the state, with 70 calls coming from Shepparton alone.
Stormy weather damaged properties in Shepparton on Sunday morning. (Supplied: Andrew Bothwell)
Crews are currently working to restore power to nearly 4,000 homes across the region. Several thousand properties have already had their power restored.
Electricity distributor Powercor said the remaining homes were expected to be reconnected by about 4pm.
Residents are being reminded to stay at least 10m clear of downed power lines and report them to the authorities.
'Not overly safe': Visitors warned away from alpine regions
Strong winds are continuing across the Alpine region, with gusts of more than 140kph recorded at Mount Hotham on Sunday morning.
Mount Hotham Chamber of Commerce president Steve Belli said conditions were "fierce" on the mountain.
"It's pretty windy up here at the moment, we've got rain coming in sideways," he said.
"Visibility from the Harrietville side up to the top of Hotham is variable at best.
"So probably one of those days when you really shouldn't be coming up here to be honest, it's just not overly safe."
Mr Belli said he hoped conditions would start to ease as people started their journey back down the mountain ahead of Monday.
Strong winds have also been recorded in other parts of the Alpine region, with Mount Buller recording gusts of 132kph just before 6:30am and Mount Gellibrand recording 80kph winds just before 10am.