A deep cold front has swept through Melbourne and parts of southern Victoria, uprooting trees and damaging buildings with wind gusts of more than 100 kilometres per hour (kph).

The State Emergency Service (SES) said it had received more than 800 calls for assistance with reports of fallen trees, downed powerlines and building damage.

Electricity outages have also been reported in Melbourne’s outer eastern suburbs.

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John Cotter, a caller to 774 ABC Melbourne, said there were huge waves crashing at Mornington pier where an expensive yacht had been swept onto the beach.

“I was taking my dog for a walk this morning at Mornington and looking over the pier there were huge waves crashing over there and a boat had slipped its moorings and had come up against the beach at Shire Hall,” he said.

“It’s on its side. It’s being bashed by huge waves.”

The SES received reports of damaged homes and garages but said the weather was not as bad as the storms that hit at the weekend.

Conditions expected to ease before midnight

At Wantirna, in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, this tree fell on power lines in high winds. Photo: ABC

A severe weather warning remains current for the north-east, central and Gippsland districts of Victoria.

A warning for the state’s south-west has been cancelled.

Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) duty forecaster Kevin Parkin said coastal areas and parts of Melbourne could expect high water levels this afternoon.

“Conditions in coastal regions could be problematic, coinciding with high tide this afternoon, we could see water rising on the lower reaches of the Yarra impacting areas around Southbank,” he said.

He said conditions were expected to ease before midnight.

The strongest wind gusts were recorded at Wilsons Prom at 122kph at 3:40pm, the BoM said.

Winds of up to 121kph were recorded at Mount Hotham, in the Alpine region, and 111kph at Mount William in the Grampians.

At Mount Gellibrand, west of Geelong, a gust of 95kph was registered about 7:00am while at the same time another gust at Fawkner Beacon in the middle of Port Phillip hit 85kph.

Geelong resident Michelle said she could normally see the Melbourne CBD from her home but it was obscured by dust stirred up by the strong winds.

The Bureau of Meteorology said it was not technically a dust storm, which reduces visibility to 1000 metres, but it appeared to be a significant amount of dust.

The speed limit on the West Gate bridge was earlier reduced to 60kph because of high winds.

Significant waves expected on south-western Victoria coast

Storm clouds seen near Stawell in Victoria’s west. Photo: ABC

On Sunday, high winds caused localised damage in the south-eastern suburbs amid heavy thunderstorms.

The high winds will be accompanied by huge waves on the south-western coast into Wednesday morning.
Waves at this time of year normally average about two-and-a-half to three metres.

“What we call the significant wave height, which is a combination of the sea wave and the swell wave, should average around the seven-metre mark,” Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Dean Stewart said.

“It’s pretty unusual to get waves as high as seven metres and they’re probably going to reach their peak overnight tonight and tomorrow morning.”

Lifesaving Victoria said eight kayakers caught unaware by the conditions were rescued at Anglesea, south-west of Melbourne, about 9:30am.

Adam Robertson, chief executive officer of Surfing Victoria, said he planned to go out and surf the big waves at Torquay.

“It’s not for everyone. It’s going to be pretty big and blustery conditions and I would certainly recommend approaching [the surf] with caution, that’s for sure,” he told 774 ABC Melbourne.

“It’s going to be big and wild. It might look good from the beach but it’s certainly going to be one of those swells where you need to be honest with yourself about your ability and approach [it] with caution.”