Melburnians were whipped by winds overnight. Photo: File photo
Strong wind gusts of up to 83km/h brought down trees across Melbourne overnight, and the Werribee train line has been thrown into chaos late morning after a lightning strike.
The strike damaged power lines near Westona station, causing widespread signal failure.
Metro spokeswoman Larisa Tait said buses would replace trains between Newport and Werribee stations until further notice.
Melbourne was lashed by wild winds ahead of a chilly, wet morning. Photo: File photo
She said the line would require repairs, and could not say when normal service would resume.
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Overnight, wind gauges across the city on Monday night showed Fawkner Beacon in Port Phillip Bay recorded the highest wind gust, but it was also strong in Laverton (78km/h), Point Wilson (76km/h) and at St Kilda and South Channel Island (72km/h).
The highest winds in the state were recorded at Wilson's Promontory campsites, where gusts reached 95km/h.
A State Emergency Services spokeswoman said there were about 20 calls for help, mostly for fallen trees.
A tree that fell onto overhead train power lines caused a chain reaction that left passengers scrambling on the first day back after school holidays.
The tree fell onto the power lines at Strathmore before 2.30am. A diesel train then travelled along the Craigieburn line, causing further damage.
Buses replaced the outbound train services during the morning peak while repairs were made, she said.
At 6am the inbound line was reopened with some trains running but buses still supplemented city-bound services. Craigieburn-line trains again came to a halt just after 8.30am.
Metro Trains spokeswoman Larisa Tait said passengers were encouraged to use the nearby Upfield line. She said several bus routes operated between the Craigieburn and Upfield lines.
Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Peter Blake said the winds were caused by a build-up of warm northerly winds and cooler south-easterly winds.
"Those sorts of strengths would be expected in the later part of the autumn rather than early autumn," Mr Blake said.
He said the warm winds and low cloud cover kept overnight temperatures high with the city centre's low overnight not dipping below 17 degrees.
Mr Blake said the cold winds had now taken grip on Melbourne. Temperatures dropped four degrees between 5am and 9am, to 13 degrees.
Up to 5.2 millimetres of rain fell on Melbourne in the 90 minutes before 9am. Despite 24 millimetres recorded at the Otways to 8am on Tuesday and 8 millimetres in Geelong, Mr Blake said Melbourne should not expect a dousing.
"We only expect to see two to eight millimetres across the Melbourne area, nothing like we had in the early part of the month," he said.
Ben Domensino, senior meteorologist with the Fairfax-owned Weatherzone, said the rain dump between 8am and 9am made it the wettest return to work after Easter since at least 1975.
Mr Domensino said the rain coincided with northerly wind gusts of 54 kilometres at 9am.
He said the morning rain brought the April rainfall total so far to 52 millimetres, just short of the long-term average.
‘‘If the city gains another 5.8 millimetres by the end of the month, this will be the first time Melbourne has received the average rainfall during a calendar month since September,’’ Mr Domensino said.
He said if the city failed to reach a monthly average of 57.3 millimetres by the end of the coming weekend, weather statisticians would need to wait ‘‘nervously’’ to see if the next rain-bearing system arrived before 9am on April 30.
‘‘Early indications based on computer model guidance are that it may come right down to the line,’’ he said.
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