Victoria ‘dodges a bullet’ as wild storm leaves South Australia without power

Victoria’s Mallee region has copped the brunt of the severe weather that plunged parts of South Australia into darkness yesterday.

The Alpine regions have also been hit with high winds of up to 144 km/hr.

Parts of the state received up to 40 millimetres of rain overnight.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s senior forecaster Stephen King said Victoria has ‘dodged a bullet’ it was not as severe as expected.

‘There’s a couple of showers coming down from the north now, but once we get through that the morning should be clear, then we’ll see some showers develop in the afternoon,’ he said.

READ MORE: Adelaide left without power

A severe weather warning is in place for the Mallee and North East.

Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg said the cyclonic conditions, gale force winds and the extreme weather event created a perfect storm event.

‘I’ve been told this is an unprecedented across Australia,’ he told Neil Mitchell.

He said Victoria has an interconnecter to New South Wales, which could be enacted if Victoria lost some of its brown coal power.

The SES has so far received more than 100 calls for assistance and is reminding motorists to take care in the wild weather.

A severe weather warning is in place for the Mallee and North East but metropolitan Melbourne looks like it will escape the worst of the wild weather.

Power is still being restored to parts of South Australia, as the state braces for another day of wild weather.

Click PLAY to hear Josh Frydenberg on 3AW Mornings: