The wind ripped the bullnose verandah off Jim and Kathleen Callaghan’s 130-year-old Brush Farm Road home, broke some of the windows and took off part of the roof.

The openings left heavy rain pouring into the house and the deluge forced Mrs Callaghan to abandon her efforts to stop it with buckets.

“I was so terrified, there was so much noise, I kept thinking ‘what do I do’ and I was heading for the bath tub,” she said.

“I’ve read that’s what you’re supposed to do in a cyclone.”

Mrs Callaghan thought the entire roof was going to end up strewn across the farming paddocks. 

She couldn’t believe it when the commotion suddenly ceased and the sunshine returned.

She said the wind easily lifted the verandah and part of the roof off the house. 

“It rolled it off like opening a can of sardines,” she said.

“It was a really harsh burst of wind and it only lasted a couple of minutes ... I thought the whole roof was going to blow off.”

Mrs Callaghan was alone in the house with her cat Bootsie when the storm struck the region on Monday afternoon. 

“She was pretty shaken, she was screaming, we both were,” she said.

“I think she thought we were going to go too.

“I don’t think it helps that we’re in the middle of the paddock, there’s nothing around to protect us.”

Cyclonic winds also struck the Woods family property on Flat Road at Pitnacree and a hay shed on Glenarvon Road in Lorn.

A trampoline that ended up in power lines on Glenarvon Road left 500 people in parts of Largs, Bolwarra Heights, East Maitland, Pitnacree and Raworth without power for a few hours.

Roof tiles and colourbond fence panels were also blown around in Raworth.

Seven thousand people across the Hunter and Central Coast were without power after the storm.

Two sheds at the Woods’ property lost their roofs, including the hay shed where they store lucerne hay, potatoes and pumpkin.

Luckily the fooder and produce were not destroyed.

“The wind blew from the west which is very unusual and it took the entire roof off,” Thomas Woods said. 

The State Emergency Service advises that people should: 

* Move your car under cover or away from trees. 

* Secure or put away loose items around your house, yard and balcony. 

* Keep at least 8 metres away from fallen power lines or objects that may be energised, such as fences. 

* Report fallen power lines to either Ausgrid on 131 388, or Endeavour Energy on 131 003 or Essential Energy on 132 080, as shown on your power bill. 

* Unplug computers and appliances. 

* Avoid using the phone during the storm. 

* Stay indoors away from windows, and keep children and pets indoors as well. 

* For emergency help in floods and storms, ring the SES (NSW and ACT) on 132 500. 

Warnings are also available through TV and Radio broadcasts, the Bureau's website at www.bom.gov.au or call 1300 659 218. The Bureau and State Emergency Service would appreciate warnings being broadcast regularly.