Engineers and tradies are rushing to dismantled one of this giant construction cranes in Melbourne's inner southeast after it was damaged by weather and threatened to collapse.

Strong winds on Monday night caused the crane to blow backwards, was badly bent.  It is threatening to damage nearby properties if it comes down.  More than 300 residents in Richmond had to be evacuated to safety, with Richmond Town Hall serving as an evacuation centre.

"If the crane falls it will be pretty dramatic. It's very heavy and it could cause huge destruction and it would be very, very expensive. This is prime property in Melbourne and you flatten a few houses there, you are talking about tens of millions of dollars," said Richmond resident Ian Dalton at the evacuation center.

Although the process oftaking down the crane is expected to take a few days, they're particularly worried that the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has issued a severe weather warning for damaging winds for much of Victoria's south, with the southwest coast and alpine areas expected to be worst affected.