As many people in Victoria begin to enjoy a modest easing of restrictions, parts of the state are gearing for heavy rainfall and possible flash flooding.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has forecast heavy rainfall across parts of the state from Wednesday evening through to Thursday morning.
A low-pressure system inland over New South Wales is expected to deepen and move south by Thursday, BOM said.
Storms swept down from NSW late Tuesday afternoon, moving through northern and north-eastern Victoria.
The bulk of the action was seen in Victoria's north country overnight on Tuesday, with hefty storms over Echuca, Shepparton and Euroa, and hail storms reported around Barmah.
BOM said the highest rainfall officially recorded in the state was at Dookie, with a dumping of 34 millimetres of rain.
Senior BOM forecaster Matthew Thomas told the ABC damaging east to southeasterly winds, averaging 40 kilometres per hour to 60kph with peak gusts of 80kph to 90kph are expected to develop around the Otways late Wednesday evening and continue during Thursday morning.
Overnight Wednesday, quite a good amount of rainfall activity around the Otways is expected to move well into Thursday morning and a Flood Watch has been issued for the Otway Coast, Mr Thomas said.
"We've picked up a further 12mm of rain out at Gippsland in the last five hours and another 10mm at Mount Buffalo Chalet, in the last five hours," Mr Thomas said on Wednesday evening.
"Tonight, or tomorrow morning, 50 to 100mm is possible around the Otways, but generally elsewhere about the state, apart from the North, Central, and we're looking at around 5 to 10mm," he said
In other parts of the state, thunderstorms are expected right across northern Victoria and into Thursday.
"What we're going to see tomorrow is a northern pressure system pushed down from NSW [starting] late today, that will see shower activity continuing throughout this evening," he said.
Albury-Wodonga will be bracing for the worst, with a slight chance of severe thunderstorms, plus flash flooding and some larger hail.
Next week looking calmer
Rainy weather is tipped to continue into early next week, but BOM said the next 24 to 48 hours would bring the bulk of the rainfall.
SES Southern Zone Duty Commander Shane Hargreaves has advised the community in at-risk areas in the state to prepare their ahead of the storm.
"These thunderstorms generally have a mind of their own," he said.
Rainfall rates are likely to ease by late Thursday morning, though, but shower activity will likely persist throughout Thursday and Friday.
It looks like a calmer period is coming next week where a trough is forecast across the state coming on to Sunday and Monday. While there will be some shower activity BOM expects things to ease up later in the week.
