Rob Reid had been travelling with partner Donna Colins when their vehicle struck hail near the Murray Valley Highway overpass at Barnawartha North.

“I was doing 90km/h when I left the road,” Mr Reid said.

“We were fine one minute, then ‘bang’, the car lost control.

“I started sliding one way then it flipped around 180 degrees.

“We hit a tree and dropped down about a metre into an embankment and landed squarely in a drain.”

Mr Reid said there had been “a massive, sudden hail downpour” on a small section of the road before the crash.

He had reduced the speed of the Ford Falcon seconds before the crash.

“We just sat there in a little bit of shock afterwards,” he said.

“We both came out unscathed.

“We are very, very lucky — I knew that as soon as we stopped and we were sitting there.

“It could have ended a lot worse.

“What we discovered was there had been a lot of little bits of hail which had formed snow patches you couldn’t see.”

Two dogs in the vehicle were also uninjured.

Police were forced to close roads in alpine regions at the weekend as heavy snowfall created a safety hazard.

The Omeo Highway was closed between Mitta Mitta and Omeo and a section of the Benambra-Corryong Road was closed between Gibbo River and Staceys Bridge.

Sgt Brenden Goyne of Mount Hotham said officers attended a car rollover near Dinner Plain about 3pm on Saturday.

“They just slid off the side of the road on the Great Alpine Road,” he said.

The vehicle did not have chains fixed, but Sgt Goyne said they weren’t required at that section.

Sen Constable Peter Dilley of Falls Creek said: “There are so many signs that tell people not to come up here without chains, but people still persist with that.

“The traffic congestion is bad because of poor visibility and the (snow-covered) road surface is horrendous.

“There is no tolerance for chains not being carried.”

Sen Constable Dilley said there had been several minor traffic issues in the Falls Creek area but no major incidents.