Illawarra residents say the day is still fresh in their minds.

The tornado that wrecked dozens of homes and caused major power cuts although a lower magnitude one, had SES crew scurrying to attend to emergency callouts all over the suburb.

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As heavy rain and wind began lashing the South Coast in the early hours of February 24, 2013, Kiama SES operations coordinator Anthony Moncrieff rushed to his unit's headquarters.

When he got to his desk he realised there were about 50 jobs waiting in the system but it was the Kiama fire brigade job that caught his eye.

"We got a call from the fire brigade saying, 'Can you help us get our trucks out, then we'll help you'," Mr Moncrieff said.

The brigade's roof had come off in the storm, and debris was preventing firefighters taking their pumpers on to the road.

"It was very ironic, it was quite funny actually," he said.

While most of Kiama was affected, Minnamurra Street was the worst-hit.

"We positioned ourselves at the top of Minnamurra Street and the guys just started going up and down, looking at what the damage was," Mr Moncrieff said.

"Early on, we had to do a rescue of an elderly lady stuck in her home on that street."

The clean-up which went on for several days after the calamity was a joint one by SES, NSW Fire and Rescue, Rural Fire Service and Kiama Municipal Council.

Kiama residents took to social media to discuss where they were on the day a decade ago.

"We lived at the top of Minamurra street. I'll never forget the SES knocking on the door and having to live in caravan parks and holiday houses for a month," Facebook user Tiarne Rogers said.

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"I remember the damage to homes but also how traumatised people were," Christine Stirman said.

While some people on the Kiama community page said they remembered every detail from ten years ago, some hoped they never had to witness anything like it again.

The tornado was a part of a "family of tornadoes" that hit the region according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

While Kiama was the most severely hit region, there were also telltale trails of destruction at Gerroa, Jamberoo and Albion Park Rail.

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