Vic power outages could go past weekend

Some Victorians might be waiting beyond this Sunday to have their power reconnected after last week's wild weather.

About 17,000 homes remained without power on Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack told federal parliament.

He added 129 Telstra sites and 16 Optus sites also remained down, with 11 communities continuing to face isolation because of the storm damage.

While most households are expected to have power restored by the weekend, Victoria's Emergency Services Commissioner Andrew Crisp cannot guarantee that the work will be done by Sunday.

"Our distribution businesses are working as hard as they can to get those properties back on as soon as they can," he said.

"Even though most of them should be on by the weekend, there's every chance some won't be because they might be at the actual end of the line and it will take more time."

Mr Crisp added while flood warnings remain in Gippsland, the weather there later this week might not be as bad as first forecast.

"The weather seems to have backed off a bit for the coming days and into the weekend, might have 20-30ml locally south and west Gippsland," he said.

Mr Crisp warned "we are not through this", with ongoing concerns about potential flooding at the Yallourn coal mine and the potential disruption to the power station it feeds.

The state government continues to insist Victoria's power supply will not be at risk because of the flooding.

Mr Crisp said there were measures in place if the mine suffered a breach, saying there was "definitely a potential" for it to happen.

"If there is to be a breach... and the power station might need to shut down there's no impact to residential homes, residential areas, or to private land," he said.

He said there was a "real danger" of killer trees, through the Dandenongs area.

Mr Crisp said authorities were already looking at added battery backup for mobile phone towers beyond the current 24 hours.

"We need to look at extending that ... we're already undertaking some reviews," he said.

Powercor reported on Tuesday afternoon that all its customers have had their power restored, but it services the state's west and northwest - areas less impacted by last week's weather.

State opposition frontbencher David Davis said more needed to be done to help affected communities.

"If the army is needed, we should call on the army. Why not? Get the wood cut. Get the way through. Get the electricity back on for people who need it," he said.

Two people lost their lives last week in the Victorian floodwaters.