A storm has swept through Melbourne and most of Victoria, tearing roofs off houses and bringing down trees.
The State Emergency Service received around 500 calls from residents, starting from midnight on Thursday.
Senior forecaster with the Bureau of Meteorology, Stephen King, said winds of up to 90 kilometres an hour caused minor damage.
“It caused a fair bit of damage around the place, and also a fair bit of rain overnight too with most suburbs getting a good 10-20 millimetres,” he said.
Further east, some areas reported receiving closer to 40 millimetres.
Most of the rain has now passed, although a severe weather warning remains for the far east of Victoria, with residents warned of thunderstorms and heavy rain, and the possibility of flash flooding.
Mr King said the rest of Friday will see much the same conditions.
“We’re just in a cold south-westerly with showers expected for the rest of the day and probably not getting much warmer than the mid-teens,” he said.
Southern and eastern Victoria were the worst hit, with the SES receiving more than 70 calls from the Wydnham region alone since 6.30am on Friday.
Thousands of homes were left without power as the strong cold front swept through around 7am, and passengers on some train lines suffered major delays and cancellations.
A tree falling across the tracks between Elsternwick and South Yarra stations caused the Sandringham train line to be suspended.
Ambulance Victoria tweeted it had been called to four collisions in just five minutes, and it urged drivers to be careful on the wet roads.
The Metropolitan Fire Brigade said it was helping the SES deal with downed power lines.
The bad weather comes as Melbourne gears up for the Formula One Grand Prix, with showers expected to continue into Saturday.
A severe thunderstorm warning was issued on Thursday, but was cancelled shortly before 9am on Friday.
