Australia Weather News

The full devastation brought on by Tropical Cyclone Debbie will not be known until first light, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has warned.

Cyclone Debbie is edging slowly inland having crossed the north Queensland coast between Airlie Beach and Bowen about midday on Tuesday as a category four system, bringing wind gusts of 260 kilometres per hour.

Some hours later it was downgraded to a category three, and on Tuesday evening became a category two system before becoming a category one around midnight.

The system was downgraded to a tropical low at 3:00am.

One man was seriously injured on Tuesday when a wall collapsed on him at Proserpine, south of Bowen.

Emergency services fear further reports of injury and even death.

Ms Palaszczuk said there had been reports of damage in places including Proserpine and other smaller communities between Bowen and Mackay.

"We're going to be getting a full assessment of the extent of the damage tomorrow [Wednesday] morning at first light," she said.

"Please stay inside, do not leave your homes until authorities give you the OK to do so."

On Tuesday evening the storm passed over the mining town of Collinsville, south-west of Bowen, as a category two system.

Ms Palaszczuk said Collinsville had never experienced a category two storm before.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Deputy Commissioner Mike Wassing said there were reports of structural damage in Collinsville.

"We don't have any reports of any injuries or life impact which is good. The community has really bunkered down," he said.

Collinsville resident Julie said Cyclone Debbie had made its presence felt in the town.

"We're getting hammered something savage … the wind is absolutely raging, roaring and hasn't let up for about three hours," she said.

"We didn't get a great deal of rain but the wind hasn't given us one ounce of relief."

Later in the evening, Julie said there had been "lots of complacency… people were thinking the mountains would protect us.

"I'm shattered emotionally and physically. I've gone through the worst 24 hours I've experienced in my 53 years."

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the Federal Government was working closely with the Queensland Government to deal with fallout.

"We have put in place the biggest pre-deployment of the Australian Defence Force in advance of a natural disaster," he said.

"We have Brigadier Chris Field who will be the recovery coordinator so we are working very closely together."

Brigadier Fields said soldiers will focus on repairing public infrastructure from today.

"As soon as it's safe to do so we will begin working with local and state government authorities to make sure we can understand the need and get our people in the right place," he said.

"That's the great strength of our people, bringing community capabilities back on line as quick as possible, such as roads."

By 11:00pm AEST, the Bureau of Meteorology said Debbie was south-south-west of Collinsville, moving west-south-west, but gales were still extending over the town.

The bureau said the system was expected to weaken further as it moved south-west, with winds rapidly weakening overnight, but heavy rain would continue in affected regions for up to 24 hours.

On Wednesday, the remains of the system will curve to a more southerly track over inland Queensland.

Widespread falls of up to 250 millimetres are expected in coastal catchments and further inland over the coming days.

'It was like nothing I have ever experienced'

Proserpine resident Megan Cannings made the decision to evacuate during the eye of the storm, after the verandah on her miner's cottage collapsed.

The fashion designer had been sheltering in the home with her two dogs and rushed to the safety of a friend's nearby property.

"I couldn't actually get out of my front door, because obviously everything had come down, and part of my roof had come off," she said.

"It was like nothing I have ever experienced. I've been in quite a few cyclones.

"It just looks like chaos outside at the moment. There's tin from people's roofs, there's actually roofs from people's buildings on the ground.

"It's not a friendly sight outside. It's very, very scary."

There will be a clearer picture of coastal damage on Wednesday morning, but Queensland Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said the storm tide in Mackay was not as bad as feared.

"We've dodged a bullet I believe, because of the timing of the cyclone, the fact that it slowed down last night it actually took it away from the high tide which was a bit of a silver lining for us," Commissioner Stewart said.

"But I do believe we've got to be prepared for the worst as the information in the next 24 hours comes out of those areas."

Mackay mayor Greg Williamson said his city faced a major clean-up.

"We know that we've got about 15,000 homes without power, we know there's powerlines down everywhere, we know there's trees down everywhere," he said.

"Our northern beach suburbs have really been hit quite badly."

Bowen pensioner Pearl, who is alone in her home, said conditions were severe and residents were suffering.

"Every time there's a gust of wind something else tears away, and I don't know how long my windows can hold on," she said.

"As a pensioner I cut down on our insurance and put a high excess on, so there's thousands of dollars of damage here at the moment and it's stressful.

"I'm stressed and the other people must be the same. I never thought we would be going through this.

"I've been through lots of cyclones, I was confident everything would be fine, but the window awnings went at lunchtime, now the front awning's gone, all my trees have gone."

The cyclone also caused damage to hospitals in Proserpine and Bowen.

Mackay Hospital and Health Service incident commander Paul Welford said they were experiencing "significant water leakage because of the damage that the winds are making and allowing the water in".

"So that's the big problem there and there's shortage of staff because they're unable to get to them," he said.

Mr Welford said staff had worked double and triple shifts during the cyclone.

"They're heroes basically," he said.

"We're feeling for them and thinking of them and they're toughing it out and looking after patients."

Luan Rodda, who lives in the beachfront town of Seaforth, said the cyclone did not spare anything.

"Today it's really shown its true colours. It's really quite scary. There is just devastation, trees down, there's debris everywhere," she said.