A FAMILY of five is lucky to be alive after a tree crushed their car in Victoria’s east as wild weather lashed the state.

Emergency service crews were called to Tarra Valley Rd in Tarra-Bulga National Park, Gippsland in Victoria’s east after a child was trapped in a vehicle about 1pm.

Rescuers took about an hour to free a seven-year-old girl, who suffered leg injuries, from the vehicle, as her shocked parents and two siblings watched on.

The girl and her 41-year-old father, who sustained a neck injury, were taken to Latrobe regional hospital for treatment.

The incident was one of more than 1600 calls for help the State Emergency Service has received since midnight.

An 80-year-old man also suffered a cut to the head after a tree branch broke loose and trapped him at Cranbourne shopping centre.

And police said a 78-year-old fisherman is lucky to be alive after his boat sank in stormy conditions in Port Phillip Bay on Thursday morning.

Building damage, flash-flooding, uprooted trees and fallen powerlines have kept SES crews busy for most of the day as a severe weather warning remains in place.

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In what has been a day of Melbourne’s notorious “four seasons in one day” weather, showgoers were forced to duck for cover when heavy rain swept through the showgrounds.

The roof of one of the pavillion tents was torn in the winds, while several equestrian events were cancelled due to safety in the poor weather conditions.

Organisers said the show would close early at 7pm.

But the wild weather was a blessing for surfers, who pulled out their boards to enjoy the swells off the coast, including at Half Moon Bay.

SES spokesman Stefan Delatovic said more than 1600 calls had been received.

More 1100 requests for help had come from metropolitan Melbourne, especially its outer east, and 430 from the Gippsland area.

Most of the calls had been for fallen trees or minor property damage.

But Mr Delatovic said the winds could have been much more devastating.

“I was surprised at how little serious damage we saw,” Mr said.

Gusts of 100km/h were recorded in St Kilda, while Avalon was hit by 102km/h winds at lunch time.

Essendon Airport was blown away by 93km/h winds, while 83km/h winds were recorded at Melbourne Airport.

Elsewhere, Mount Buller recorded wind gusts of 133km/h, while Wilsons Promontory was swept away with 165 km/h winds, East Sale 117km/h and 111 km/h at Pound Creek.

The damaging winds were strong enough to blow a sheet off the roof of the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.

@theheraldsun windy and windows shaking here. feels like I'm in the wizard of oz #oldmovies — Penny Gubby (@pennygubby) September 25, 2013

Melbourne Airport experienced minor delays as the gusts forced operations to be reduced to one runway.

Melbourne’s weather has become a hot topic on social media with many people questioning its erratic behaviour and describing it as being drunk or having bipolar.

Since 9am, just 1.4mm of rain had fallen across the city, with a high temperature of just 16.2C.

Geelong received the most rainfall, with 5.2mm recorded.

Horizontal hail was even reported in some areas across the state.

The Bureau of Meteorology advised at 5pm the severe weather warning for the Northern Country, North Central, North East, South West and Central forecast districts has been cancelled.

Woke up at 2.15 last night because thunder actually made my house shake. It was awesome. ☁⚡ — Maxine Runting (@maxineivy) September 25, 2013

There is surf on the Yarra at Docklands #windy — charminglydaft (@charminglydaft) September 26, 2013

Victorians woke to wild weather, with the Gippsland region copping the most rainfall overnight. Some parts of the area received 40-50mm of rain.

Herald Sun readers have shared their experiences with the unrelenting weather that is continuing to hit.

“It is still hitting us here in south Gippsland, bit wild outside,” Michelle Steen said earlier on the Herald Sun Facebook page.

“Thunder was really loud, bucketing down in Carnegie!” Andrew Young said.