About 50 volunteers from Lake Macquarie, Newcastle, Cessnock and Maitland lent a hand in the clean-up after a windy night and morning in which gusts of 98km/h were recorded by the Bureau of Meteorology at Nobbys Beach mid-morning.

While the wind ripped the roof off his Warners Bay home yesterday morning, Ben Fawkes was taking advantage of what he called ideal conditions for windsurfing.

‘‘I was out on the water when I got the call that the roof was off my home,’’ Mr Fawkes said.

His mate Alex Vandervoort was inside the house when half the roof folded over itself about 8am before the entire structure was blown onto Mr Fawkes’s pool area and the neighbour’s backyard.

‘‘There was an almighty roar as the whole thing got picked up and thrown across,’’ Mr Vandervoort said.

‘‘The young blokes next door play a lot of footy in their backyard. If they had been playing footy, it could have been a disaster.’’

Mr Fawkes’s catamaran was not damaged.

While Mr Fawkes was cleaning up his yard, the owners of a Bolton Point home were planning how they would remove part of their roof from their pool.

The owner said he was awoken about 1am to hear part of the roof being ripped off.

Hunter Region State Emergency Service volunteers were called to 41 damaged roofs, a spokeswoman said.

There were fears that the wind that created havoc on the South Coast was heading for the Hunter, but the gusts began to ease about midday.

The bureau is forecasting wind ranging from 15km/h to 30km/h today before a shower or two tomorrow.