Melbourne cleans up after ferocious storm

A clean-up is underway in Melbourne after a huge storm swept through late yesterday afternoon, tearing roofs from some properties.

St Kilda was one of the worst-hit areas, with beachfront houses exposed to extreme gusts of wind.

A tin roof was blown from an apartment building onto Mary Street in St Kilda West, crashing down to the ground tearing down power lines on the way, forcing the closure of several surrounding streets.

"Most frightening thing I've seen for a long time," resident Shelley Guest said.

"A tornado started to form over the water, it came straight across the park and ripped all the trees, I jumped back from the window."

Clean-up crews were hard at work this morning clearing the damage.

More than 618 calls were made to the State Emergency Service, with the bulk of the damage occurring in the north-east, with 44 callouts happening in Greensborough, Diamond Creek and Eltham.

Of the 618 calls to the SES, 453 of them were for fallen trees, 114 for building damage.

Temperatures dropped by 10 degrees yesterday afternoon as the cold front moved in, with winds in St Kilda reaching 113km/h.

Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Sarah Scully said the storm wasn't entirely unprecedented but was part of quite a strong front.

"The last time we saw wind gusts of that type at St Kilda was back in November 2015," she said.

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Local residents said the sudden storm was quite a shock.

"It's quite dramatic. You don't expect that in inner Melbourne," one man said.

"It could've killed someone."

Ms Scully said Victoria most likely wouldn't be hit with any more cold fronts this week but some unusual weather was on the way.

"We aren't expecting anymore cold fronts between now and the end of the year across Victoria, however there is a build up of tropical moisture that's forecast to extend right across the east coast into Victoria bringing very unstable conditions and high humidities from about Thursday onwards," she said.