Robert Ford had never seen anything like the rain, hail and wind that tore through Ovens in his 18 years living in the town.
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He estimated more than 125 millimetres of rain poured down in just 30 minutes on Tuesday evening.
The ferocious storm caused a landslip, sending loose rocks, trees and debris tumbling down the hills and into the rear of two homes.
The yard of Mr Ford’s own Great Alpine Road property flooded, but his priority was to help an elderly lady down the road whose home was hit “like a shotgun”.
He said the woman was lucky to be alive when he and fellow neighbours helped her out of the house and into a lodge next door.
"You got this sudden roar, it just sounded like an express train, then all of a sudden the hail started," Mr Ford said.
“It came down so quick and the hail was just shredding everything, there were bits of trees and bits of limbs falling.”
He said the water ferocity “was just like Niagara Falls”.
“It’s just amazing how nature can be so pleasant one minute and then so devastating,” Mr Ford said.
Valley Homestead manager Rhonda Forster was stuck on the other side of a roadblock on Tuesday night before she could face the damage on Wednesday.
The pool, tennis court and bush activities centre were all destroyed by the landslip, but Mrs Forster was yet to calculate a damage bill.
She said some sections of the homestead were under six feet of water.
“Everything and anything has come down with that rain event,” Mrs Forster said.
“It is the second time that it has happened to us this year, it happened to us in May after another major rain event.
“Previous to that, it has never happened.”
No guests were at the property on Tuesday night,
The business will assess if it can still honour bookings through December.
One of the first people to check on the property was part of the team which build the homestead 33 years ago.
“Everybody does care about each other and everybody does look out for each other," Mrs Forster said.
"We'll bounce back and I'm sure the local community will support us and help us in any way we need.”
Another unoccupied house on the Great Alpine Road, which was due to be demolished, was also badly damaged by large rocks during the landslip.
