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Small tornadoes likely swept through Tocumwal as a part of an intense storm which caused extensive damage to the region, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
Senior forecaster Kerin Arndt said it was impossible to confirm absolutely that tornadoes had occurred because there was no monitoring equipment in the town, but the bureau had received reports of tornadoes and the damage appeared to corroborate they had taken placed.
He said a line of storm cells swept across northern Victoria on Saturday about 5pm, with Tocumwal bearing the brunt of the storm.
State Emergency Service's Ian Lieske was on the ground in Tocumwal on Sunday and said the town had taken a real "walloping".
Hundreds of resident in Tocumwal, as well as Finley and Barooga, were without power overnight Saturday, with many only regaining electricity Sunday afternoon.
Mobile communications were also affected across Saturday night and Sunday.
"We're working on 60 jobs at the moment, we've got a lot of trees down all around town and a lot of roof damage," he said.
"We had a very strong storm cell move through town, it's blown roofs off, trees are down across cars, carports and buildings.
"It's a small area of intense damage."
Mr Lieske said SES, RFS and NSW Fire and Rescue were all out assisting residents.
"Hopefully we'll get the majority of the tasks done [on Sunday], anything we miss should be done tomorrow," he said.
Winds of 111km/h were recorded in Kyabram and about 10 to 20mm of rain fell in the Murray region.
PREVIOUSLY:
A severe storm has caused widespread damage in southern NSW and northern Victoria, especially in Tocumwal where trees were torn from the ground and trampolines taken from yards.
About 1000 houses throughout Finley, Barooga and Tocumwal were left without power overnight and through to Sunday morning.
Essential Energy told customers local crews had completed a patrol of the main power line which supplies the area and found multiple faults.
As of 12pm Sunday, about 150 homes remained without power according to Essential Energy's unplanned outage map.
IN OTHER NEWS:
In Wangaratta, the SES warned drivers to take care along the Hume Freeway where heavy rain and wind caused some speed restriction signs to blow into the lanes.
Clean up efforts continue in Tocumal today, with Fire and Rescue NSW Tocumwal asking residents to be conscious of the many emergency service workers on the roads and slow down to 40km/h when passing crews.
Yarrawonga's Steve Hicks was driving home along the Murray Valley Highway from Echuca when the storm cell hit, between 4pm and 6pm.
He said it was a terrifying experience as, despite the relatively early time of day, you could barely see while driving.
"The storm came in all of a sudden," he said.
"There had been a bit of rain around but once it hit, it hit hard.
"It was torrential rain, lightning, thunder."
Mr Hicks said they had to pull over multiple times throughout the trip because trees had blocked the road.
"As it got darker you couldn't see far in front at all," he said.
"And the really heavy rain made it hard to see.
"We have to pull over because SES were out removing trees across the road."
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