Hundreds of Illawarra residents were busy cleaning up and surveying the damage today after a severe storm hit the region last night.
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Reports a tornado or cyclone had swept through the region have been dismissed.
But some people the Mercury spoke to said they felt "like a tornado or cyclone had ripped their roof right off".
Though the weather bureau said an "explosive low" was the driving force behind an extreme wind storm to whip the Illawarra and South Coast on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, with top wind speeds similar to what you'd expect with a tropical cyclone.
This ensured that the State Emergency Service was kept busy working hard overnight with more than 1000 requests for assistance across NSW, half of those coming from the Illawarra and South Coast, after a severe storm hit.
Kiama recorded its highest peak wind gust in 19 years at 7.14pm on Tuesday with 130km/h, leaving destruction in its wake.
But it was further north that bore the brunt of Mother Nature's fury with 120km/h recorded at 7.05pm in Albion Park - the last time wind speeds were close to that were in 2014 with gusts of 117 km/h recorded for the suburb.
"The wind strengths that were recorded to the equivalent of the wind strengths you could get with a category 2 tropical cyclone," said Hugh McDowell from the Bureau of Meteorology.
The duty meteorologist said the storm did have the characteristics of "cyclogenesis" where a low pressure system "deepens really quickly".
"When these lows develop that quickly they tend to be get quite a low central pressure in them and it gets quite tightly packed and you can get strong winds from that," he said.
Excessive winds are predicted to have died down for the rest of the week, though there is still a hazardous surf warning expected for coming days.
On Wednesday household owners across the region, especially in the Shellharbour and Albion Park areas, were busily surveying the damage.
This included the elderly owners at 121 Brunderee Road, Flinders, whose roof blew completely off.
Their son, who didn't want to divulge his or his parents name, said his parents were absolutely shocked and devastated.
"That's pretty much their whole livelihood and they have pretty much lost it. I don't think they will recover from this financially," he said.
The man said his parents, who are in their 70s, were just watching TV when they heard a "big bang".
"Dad got a phone call from their neighbour who told him their roof had flown off," he said.
"They weren't injured thank God and we are very happy and thankful that the SES responded so quickly and made the house safe and helped us get out.
"We just have to see where we go from here now. In the meantime my parents are living with me."
Endeavour Energy crews are continuing to work hard to safely restore power.
Since the storm hit, fallen trees have been removed and damaged powerlines repaired to return supply to 15,500 homes and business.
Currently 2,400 customers are without power located predominantly in the Shoalhaven region which bore the brunt of the ferocious winds and torrential rain.
"We have been in contact with affected customers throughout today to provide important safety information and give them the latest estimated restoration times for their properties," and Endeavour Energy spokesperson said.
Customers currently without power who require electricity for home medical equipment are asked to contact 131 003 if they need assistance.
Work will continue late into tonight to safely get power back to as many as possible. Some homes in remote outlying areas may be without power until tomorrow.
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