MELBOURNE'S cool, cloudy weather saved it from the fiercest of Adelaide's 120km/h windstorm yesterday.
Still, a low-pressure system buffeted the state, with high winds bringing down trees on Melbourne's outskirts yesterday and gusts of up to 120km/h at Mount Hotham.
State Emergency Services spokeswoman Kate Millar said the service had received 239 calls for assistance by last night, with 129 calls for the central region, which includes Melbourne. She said outlying areas such as Emerald, Knox and Craigieburn were most affected, with SES units from Broadmeadows and Nunawading taking 12 calls each and Ballarat taking 17, the most country calls.
At Coburg Oval, in Harding Street, a 15-metre scaffolding tower used for film crews for VFL sports coverage was blown down on to a water tank.
No one was in the tower at the time, but it took several hours for SES crews to clean up the damage.
Coburg traffic in Moreland and Sydney roads was also disrupted when a temporary building site wall fell on to a parked car at about 2.45pm.
Two trees in the Healesville area fell causing damage. One, a 12-metre peppermint gum, landed on a home in Rutter Avenue, Healesville, and a second fell on a wildlife sanctuary in Old Chum Creek Road, at Chum Creek.
A tree also fell in Mount Gisborne Road, Gisborne, bursting a gas pipe and damaging power lines.
Ms Millar said no injuries were reported in any incident yesterday.
In South Australia, though, winds were far more damaging, with 600 calls made for help, three quarters of which were from the Adelaide area.
The storm tore down trees, ripped roofs off houses and left at least 60,000 properties without power as it blew across South Australia overnight with winds reaching 120km/h.
Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Scott Williams said it had been windy in Melbourne, but not as bad as had been expected.
Mr Williams said winds of up to 130km/h were found just 500 metres from the earth surface, but with little sun to heat the ground the strongest winds did not descend.
The fastest Melbourne winds were at Essendon Airport (85km/h) and Ferny Creek (87km/h). The closest area to Melbourne to record more than 100km/h was Kilmore, with 102km/h.
The worst of the winds had begun passing Melbourne by about 4pm.
The State Emergency Service warned people in bushfire-affected areas, especially drivers, to take care as trees and branches weakened by fire could fall and drop limbs.
