LATEST INFORMATION ON VICTORIA’S BUSHFIRE, STORM AND WEATHER SITUATION:
* Bushfires
– Blazes burning in Little Desert and Grampians national parks in the west
– 84,000 hectares burned in the Little Desert fire
– 46,000 hectares burned in Grampians fires
– Two properties believed lost in the Little Desert fire near Hattah
– Several new fires burning out of control in the Great Otway National Park after lightning strikes
– Apollo Bay and other Great Ocean Road communities told to watch and act
* Storms
– Thousands of lightning strikes hit the ground across the state overnight
– Power cut to at least 38,000 homes and businesses, down to fewer than 8000 as of midday on Monday
– Rain totals of 63mm at Lara, 52mm at Avalon Airport, 48mm at Clunes and 47mm at Geelong
– Hail stones of 2cm to 4cm reported
– 770 requests for assistance in the 24 hours to 7am on Monday
– 197 calls for building damage, 448 for fallen trees and 93 for impacts of flash flooding
* Weather forecast
– Temperatures forecast in the high 30s and low 40s on Monday for much of state for a second straight day
– Top of 39C for Melbourne and Bendigo, 38C for Geelong and 36C for Ballarat
– More severe storms possible in eastern South Australia and western and central Victoria on Monday afternoon and evening
– Mercury to drop to low-to-mid 20s overnight
– Cool change expected to reach Victoria from Tuesday afternoon, snapping three-day heatwave
Source: State Control Centre, SES, Premier Jacinta Allan, the Bureau of Meteorology and power outage trackers