EMERGENCY crews were kept busy over the Christmas break following heavy rain and storms that downed multiple trees across roads and flooded drains and gutters across the state.

Hamilton SES, local police and CFA crews worked to clear roads of branches and trees felled by the storms with power outages also reported at several locations.

Powercor spokesman, Jordan Oliver, said their crews worked to restore power for 17,000 customers across northern, central and western Victoria, after storms swept across the state on Christmas Eve night and were still working to restore power on Christmas Day including in Hamilton.

“Ballarat (5000 customers off supply) and Kyneton (3200), (were) also impacted, while Swan Hill, Daylesford, Hamilton and Charlton also had power outages in some areas,” he said.

Hamilton SES Unit Controller, Tim Fry, said local crews worked to clear trees from roads on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

“We also assisted Heywood SES with a vehicle collision on a back road near Condah,” he said.

“Fortunately, we put out messaging about the expected rain so people would get their drains and gutters cleaned so there wasn’t too much to do there.

“We didn’t have the downpour that the rest of the state had - (locally) the rain was spaced out and gradual rather than a quick and heavy downpour.”

The Bureau of Meteorology observations at Hamilton Airport recorded 11 millimetres of rain on Christmas Day followed by 24.4mm on Boxing Day.