Flash flooding lashed Portland on Thursday night, with the SES responding to almost 100 calls for assistance.
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Portland SES unit duty officer Ray Polaski said the number of call outs was unprecedented.
He said there were reports of water in properties, some which were inundated after hail damaged their roofs, and a number of fallen trees.
The Portland SES responded to 97 calls overnight, while Port Fairy had eight calls for assistance and Warrnambool had six.
"I've never seen hail like that come down in Portland and I've been here for over 40 years," Mr Polaski said.
He said the unit had to put a call out for assistance from other areas to respond to the large number of incidents.
"We had support from the Heywood, Dartmoor, Hamilton, Port Fairy and Warrnambool SES units, the Portland, Casterton and Heathmere CFA and Fire Rescue Victoria also supported us," Mr Polaski said.
He said volunteers worked from about 6.30pm to 2am on Friday morning.
"I know there are a number of people who have had car damage from the hail," Mr Polaski said.
He said volunteers would be working through the remaining 22 jobs on Friday morning.
Murray Withington, who is staying in Portland with his in-laws, said a skylight at the Portland-Nelson Road home was damaged by the hail.
"There was a severe weather warning so we got everything off the washing line and went inside," Mr Withington said.
"Then we heard some rattling on the roof and we thought 'there must be some decent sized hail stones'.
"A few of them cracked the skylight and there was water coming into the house.
"We had to try and stop the flooding. It was like being in a boat trying to bail out the water."
Mr Withington said family members used as many buckets and storage containers they could to collect the water.
His mother in law Rosemary Mibus and his father in law Roger Mibus have lived in Portland all their lives and said they had never seen hailstones that big.
"We couldn't believe it," Mr Withington said.
"They were huge."
Mr Withington said family members were able to mop up the area affected and there was no damage to the house.
He said the skylight would need to be replaced.
It was a shock to the new managers of the Portland Tourist Park.
Ann Vollmer said she had only been in the city for four weeks.
"It was quite a shock," Ms Vollmer said.
"It looked like it had snowed for a while."
Ms Vollmer said a number of guests in caravans relocated to higher sites at the park.
"We had a few guests who had to relocate because they were in a mini lake of water," she said.
Ms Vollmer said the cabins at the park were raised and had not been affected.
She said there would be a clean up of debris swept across the park in the flood water on Friday.
"We spent a few hours cleaning up last night," she said.
Acting Premier Jacinta Allan said there had been some wild storms in various areas of the state in the past 24 hours.
"The Warrnambool Incident Control Centre has been activated to provide support for that community," Ms Allan said.
"This is a timely opportunity to remind Victorians to have the Vic emergency app on standby to please check that if you're traveling around the state to please check out the Emergency Victoria app for weather conditions or any incidents."
Ms Allan reminded people not to drive through flood waters.
"If any Victorians do need assistance as a consequence of any damage brought about by their by the storms and the weather, please call the Victorian State Emergency Service - they provide a great support to our community in times of emergency and are absolutely on standby today to continue to provide by the system," she said.
A number of businesses reported damage from the storm, with Garden Life Nursery, Portland Compleat Angler and Kyeema Support Services reporting they would be closed on Friday to clean up their premises.
"Approximately half of our Kyeema centre has been flooded," Kyeema Support services wrote in a Facebook post.
"We have swept and mopped up as much water as we could before it got too dark as obviously the power was the first thing to be turned off.
"Day Program activities in the centre have been cancelled for tomorrow and staff rostered on for tomorrow will do their utmost to have everything clean and dry for Monday."
On Thursday night Portland Compleat Angler shared a post saying the store was underwater.
"G'day everyone, we are in a little bit of a pickle here at Portland Compleat Angler due to a huge storm cell our shop is currently underwater," the post stated.
"With the help of many people that have come and helped us clean away what water we can we may be closed tomorrow due to a big clean-up. Hopefully we can reopen Saturday and keep trading as best we can. If we can we will trade tomorrow but it's a fair mess. A big thanks again to all that have helped it's much appreciated. Sorry for any inconvenience but we will be back up and running as fast as we can."
The roof of KFC Portland was damaged, with a small part caving in.
But the store would open on Friday, a spokesman said.
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