Three homes destroyed as heatwave and dry storms spark fires in Victoria

Victoria is feeling the wrath of weather extremes after intense heat led to severe electrical storms which sparked a series of fires.

Transcript

00:00A spectacular light show and a devastating show of nature's force.

00:08We heard a loud bang on the roof and we knew something wasn't right.

00:15When embers spewed from their air conditioning just after midnight, this Taylors Lakes couple

00:20realised a lightning strike had set their roof alight.

00:24Flames taking hold, they fled before the roof partially collapsed, leaving almost every

00:30possession behind.

00:31Nothing, nothing.

00:32No, just grabbed my handbag because that was in the bedroom and that was it, and the dog

00:36laid.

00:37Two homes near Collignan in the far north-west suffered a similar fate when lightning ignited

00:43a bushfire that left property smoking and hectares of scorched land in its wake.

00:51No mercy either in areas lashed by hail, flash flooding and wind gusts of up to 120km an

01:00hour.

01:01It was a wild storm.

01:03It was just something, a lot of people just walking around the streets fairly stunned.

01:07The sheet metal roof at this shooting range shredded in the storm's epicentre, Geelong.

01:13I just couldn't believe that so much damage was done.

01:15About half of the calls for emergency help came from the Geelong region.

01:21We did have one house that was uninhabitable and those residents had to be relocated.

01:27SES crews responded to trees that took down power lines after they were met by fierce

01:33wind.

01:34The storm leaving scenes like this one across Geelong.

01:37People were caught unawares.

01:39There's dozens of homes that have been impacted including water running through homes literally

01:44like a creek.

01:46Up to 45,000 people lost power.

01:49Thousands remained disconnected today as temperatures headed well into their 30s.

01:56In a major Geelong supermarket, entire shelves of food had to be tossed.

02:02And more extreme heat looms, slowing the long recovery ahead.