Australia Weather News

The clean up from Cyclone Debbie will take weeks, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says.

The category four system smashed into the north Queensland coast between Airlie Beach and Bowen on early Tuesday afternoon, before being downgraded later in the evening.

Today Ms Palaszczuk flew to north Queensland to see the destruction for herself.

In Bowen she expressed relief that the damage there was not as extensive as first feared.

"Thankfully, thankfully there's been no loss of life," she said.

She also praised emergency services and promised to support the communities during the recovery process.

"The hard work is about to begin, it's the clean up, restoring the power and making sure that people can get back to their normal lives, and that's not going to happen overnight, that's going to take some time, so we're going to be with the residents and the families of the Whitsundays region for many, many days and weeks to come."

'You could feel the pressure in your ears'

Earlier today locals at Airlie Beach were assessing the damage to boats and property in the coastal town, which was inaccessible to clean-up crews for most of the day.

Airlie Beach resident Juliane Kasiske said she and her partner Joel Wilson had to seek refuge with neighbours when the cyclone ripped out walls and windows from their home.

"On the left there that's our bedroom where we actually stayed during the storm and as it got really bad," she told the ABC.

"We heard the windows pop and you could feel the pressure in your ears, it was just a big bang.

"Wind came through the garage here and popped the back windows as well, all the doors popped out and we thought it's not safe anymore let's escape — so we ran over to the neighbours' place and they thankfully let us in.

"It was very chaotic, it was crazy.

"We're not sure if we can actually live in this place, it's pretty damaged."

Proserpine resident Sue Buckley said she was too afraid to even look at the damage inside some of the rooms of her house, as rain continued to bucket down.

"I just don't know what's in there and I'm not game enough to go in. I'm not up to dealing with it," she said.

"This storm's just unbelievable after the cyclone. We have thunder and lightning from early this morning, and torrential rain, and it's just like, what else can you throw at us?

"I've had nothing to eat for two days, except a cup of soup at the cyclone shelter last night.

"I've still got photo albums under the beds. I had some things that I just couldn't put anywhere, I've had to leave them on the floor."

Water, sewage concerns in Mackay

Mackay residents have been urged to conserve water with about half-a-day's supply left in reserves.

Mayor Greg Williamson said there were power issues with the city's treatment plants and sewage pump stations.

"We have 14 sewerage pump stations at the moment without power and that means we are facing some pretty serious concerns with the operation of the community in general," he said.

Councillor Williamson also said authorities could not get into the community of nearby Midge Point.

"Knowing what happened in Proserpine — now Proserpine was really smashed by this cyclone — Midge Point is only just down the road, it was right within the destructive wind area of the cyclone centre — I do fear for Midge Point," he said.

Mackay resident Scott Gurman, who has had his boat in the local marina for nine years, has been helping secure boats and said the damage was significant.

"There's boats there with all their railings just pulled off and all the pontoons have got steel spikes hanging out of them," he said.

"They're puncturing into boats and it's quite a mess out there.

"What we're trying to do now is link boat to boat ... to try and share the load of every boat taking the shared pressure."

The SES has received about 800 calls for help from affected communities, while ex-Tropical Cyclone Debbie, currently north-west of Moranbah in central Queensland is still making its presence felt with wind gusts reaching 120 kilometres per hour and heavy rain falling over much of north Queensland.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services deputy commissioner Mike Wassing said there was extensive flooding in low-lying areas of Mackay,in the CBD and further north, where thousands of people were evacuated ahead of the cyclone.

"People are keen to come back and check on their homes — we are asking them to stay safe and remain at either their friend location, evacuation centre or some other location, not to come back and get on the roads yet," he said.

Weather hampers authorities getting to Daydream Island

Authorities are trying to get supplies to the Daydream Island resort in the Whitsundays, where about 200 guests and 100 staff have run out of water.

A statement from the Daydream Island resort said staff were liaising with the relevant authorities and endeavouring to take guests off the island as soon as possible.

"It is not certain when that will be possible as weather conditions in the region are still not ideal," the statement said.

"Efforts are also being hampered by damage to key transport infrastructure on Daydream and in the region.

"Town water supplies have been interrupted to the island — bottled water is being provided to guests and we are endeavouring to make them as comfortable as possible."

Police have since arrived at Hamilton Island this afternoon, where water is also in short supply.

North Queensland cane farmers hit hard

Canegrowers Queensland chairman Paul Schembri said the cyclone had damaged about 9 million tonnes of cane around Mackay and Proserpine.

"Cyclone Debbie's footprint could potentially impact on 25 per cent of the sugar cane crop in Australia," he said.

Mackay cane famer Greg Plath said there was only so much they could take.

"It's really been a death by 1,000 cuts because that has gone on for a couple of days — it's been a big system and we've copped wind and rain the whole time," he said.

Bowen mango grower Ben Milton's two large orchards with about 12,000 trees had been hit hard.

He said most of the trees at one orchard had been severely damaged, with some completely snapped off at the root.

Bowen is also a major vegetable-growing region and many pumpkin, sweet corn, tomato and capsicum growers are out inspecting the damage today.

Ms Palaszczuk has said she was worried about how many people might have been injured but had been unable to make contact with emergency services personnel who were deployed on Wednesday morning.

"We just don't know how many people are injured, the status of their homes, and what we are hearing is that we are seeing some structural damage in places such as Proserpine," she said.

A wall collapsed on a man at Proserpine at the height of the storm yesterday, but his condition is still not known.

Communications have been disrupted since Debbie crossed the coast over the Whitsundays on Tuesday afternoon as a slow-moving category four system packing hurricane-force winds.

As many as 63,000 properties spent the night without power.

Defence Force on way to cyclone areas

The Australian Defence Force is sending crews with emergency supplies and specialist equipment to the cyclone-affected areas.

HMAS Choules is due to set sail tonight from Brisbane carrying hundreds of tonnes of supplies, including army vehicles, water and food.

Commanding Officer David Graham said his team was proud to be able to assist the community during such a difficult time.

"It's about helping people, I've got a medical team on board, I have a diving team on board that can get in and check harbours and clear harbours, I have a helicopter that can reach in and go certainly a lot further than I can into really helping where it's needed," he said.

"Once we get up into the affected areas we'll be tasked with putting the equipment into those remote and isolated communities where you can't get anybody else in."

Ms Palaszczuk has announced a $1 million donation to help four leading charities deliver urgent services and support to cyclone-devastated communities.

She said the Australian Red Cross, Salvation Army, St Vincent de Paul Society of Queensland and Uniting Care Community would each get $250,000 in funding.