Wild winds lashing parts of the region have turned deadly, with a man killed when a tree fell and hit his car in the Otways on Wednesday afternoon.
Police say he was travelling along Main Road around 1.30pm when the tree fell, trapping him and his female passenger.
The man died at the scene while the female passenger has been flown to hospital in a critical condition.
Both are yet to be formally identified and the exact circumstances surrounding the incident are being investigated.
It comes after gusts of up to 120km/h were reported in the Otway Ranges, while closer to Geelong, Avalon recorded gusts of 102km/h just after 4pm.
SES and City of Greater Geelong crews continue to respond to dozens of calls for help, including trees down and building damage incidents across the city.
“SES volunteers have been working tirelessly with other emergency services and local council to make sure we can get those trees off the roads and off people’s buildings and properties as swift as they can,” SES Chief Officer Tim Weibush said.
A severe weather warning’s still in place for our region, but we’re being told to brace for more wind later this week.
“These winter gales are going to continue,” Senior Meteorologist at the Weather Bureau Kevin Parkin said.
“We’ll see another front weather system move across Victoria during the early hours of Friday.
“Fortunately (the winds) won’t be quite as strong.”
