Phil Hedger rushed outside to find a stringy bark gum he said was up to 14 metres tall, uprooted on Cawley Street about 8.30am.

Mr Hedger said the footpath was a high traffic area to Bellambi Public School.

"I was lying in bed and I could hear the kids go past and next minute ... I heard a loud thud and jumped up out of bed," he said.

"Next thing, I looked out the front window and here was a tree lying across the footpath and the road.

"[It was] very lucky that no schoolkids were coming down at the time. As soon as it happened I just ran straight out to see if anybody was there."

Mr Hedger said the tree was at least 20 years old.

"It's pretty solid actually, I didn't think it'd ever blow over like that," he said. "It'd be about six feet around the girth of it so it's a fair lump of a tree."

Homes in the area are serviced by underground power, but Mr Hedger said the tree had "squashed" a power box.

At the usually picturesque Wollongong Harbour, an uprooted tree near the Harbourfront Restaurant became a hazard.

In Helensburgh, the State Emergency Service was called to remove a large tree from the roof of a two-storey home on The Crescent.

SES volunteer spokeswoman Steff Wills said the owner was unable to go inside the house because of concerns about its structural integrity.

One of Austinmer's "iconic" palm trees also fell victim to the wild weather.

Emergency crews were initially called to Austinmer Street about 7.40am after winds downed an overhead power line near Austinmer Public School.

"As the fire truck had parked out the front to assess that situation ... one of the fire brigade officers took a step and the palm tree literally just fell in front of him," resident Michelle Klohs said.

Mrs Klohs estimated the tree, which was on her nature strip, to be about 80 years old.

"It was quite iconic as you came around the corner of Austinmer Street," she said.