WINDS of up to 100 kilometres an hour caused injury and widespread damage throughout Melbourne yesterday, with fallen trees crushing cars and downed power lines cutting electricity to homes in the eastern suburbs.

A huge gum tree in the car park of Riverside Golf Club in Ascot Vale was one of many trees brought down throughout the outer suburbs. Pro shop employee Jarrod Couch, 25, said the wind picked up very quickly.

''We ran outside and a massive gum tree pretty much squashed one car and smashed up two other employees' cars,'' Mr Couch said.

A female driver in her 30s had a narrow escape when a large tree crushed her Toyota Yaris as she drove along Wolseley Crescent, Balwyn.

Local resident Dr Therese Keane rang emergency services but the woman was surprisingly uninjured when a major limb of the tree fell across the car's windshield and bonnet.

''We heard the car alarm going off and ran out to find a few blokes from the car in front pulling her [the driver] out. She was very shaken, crying and distraught, but came out with no scratches,'' Dr Keane said.

''She was just going down to the shops to buy bread,'' she said.

Senior forecaster at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Richard Carlyon, said the wind gusts were unusual in that they were not localised to a single area. ''It's unusual to see such a widespread area across the state with wind gusts in excess of 80km/h,'' he said.

Ambulance Victoria paramedics were kept busy with wind-related injuries throughout Melbourne.

A 19-year-old man was knocked unconscious when a tree branch fell on him in Fitzroy Gardens.

Another man suffered minor injuries when he was struck by fencing that was blown onto a bike path at Spotswood, and paramedic Andrew Burns treated a kite surfer, 31, who broke both ankles in strong winds at Rosebud.

''It appears a gust of wind picked the kite surfer up out of the water and blew him about 20 metres onto the beach,'' Mr Burns said.

About 16,000 homes experienced power outages in the Boroondara district when fallen trees brought down power lines in Hawthorn, while the SES responded to more than 1000 calls for assistance with damaged roofs and branches fallen across roads.

Heavy rain followed the winds in many areas, with about 11 millimetres of rain recorded in Ferny Creek. The rainfall enabled the Country Fire Authority to revoke a total fire ban across six districts in central and northern parts of the state.