Australia Weather News

Damage to crops from Cyclone Debbie is slowly becoming apparent as the worst of the wild weather moves south.

Many farmers cannot access their farms because of inundation but have seen enough to know their crops have suffered severe damage.

Cane farmer Glenn Clarke at Proserpine said his crop had been flattened

"It's like a steam roller has driven over the top. A crop is normally three to four metres tall and it's now knee to waist high," he said.

"You can see over it for miles."

In the Proserpine region which stretches from Bloomsbury up to Bowen, around 23,000 hectares is planted to the crop which produces up to 300,000 tonne of sugar.

He said other cane growers were reporting similar scenarios.

"They're saying their crops are flattened and it's not looking real good,' Mr Clarke said.

Crops will try to recover

Sprawled crops make harvest difficult and affects sugar quality and causes tonnage losses.

Mr Clarke said there was not much that could be done now to minimise cane losses.

"It's literally laying on the ground and we can't do much about it," he said.

When the sun finally does come out and the paddocks dry out, Mr Clarke said the sugar cane would attempt to stand up again.

"The green leaves on the top end will start growing towards the sun again so the stick will be laying along the ground with a big bend in the middle," he said.

Mackay battering lasts for days

Further south Greg Plath grows cane close to Mackay, where last night's winds in the region caught him by surprise.

"I thought we'd seen the last of it, but it's been death by 1,000 cuts because this has gone on for a couple of days," he said.

"We've copped wind and rain the whole time."

Yet eight weeks from harvest, Mr Plath remains optimistic.

"We'll get this crop off if we get fine weather," he said.

"It's laying down now but it'll grow. There's not much broken off. It'll turn towards the sun. It'll be a little bit harder to harvest."

Hopes for melon harvest

Further north in the Burdekin, Ryan Swindley and his family farm melons and cane around Home Hill.

An initial crop assessment has revealed some damage but he admits he had "dodged a bullet".

"The mung beans are looking pretty lodged so they'll be harder to pick up at harvest," he said.

"The cane is looking flat and the melons are looking a bit saturated and the bees haven't been out for a few days so we've probably lost yield there."

Four weeks from his melon harvest, Mr Swindley seems optimistic too.

"If they can get some sun they'll be right," he said.

Fisherman ready to resume

Mackay fisherman Daniel Pope's prawn trawlers escaped the cyclone relatively unscathed but now have an easterly swell up the river to endure.

"Once that drops put we'll be pretty right," he said.

The conditions Cyclone Debbie brought to local waters would prove fruitful for fishermen and, after recent poor seasons, Mr Pope is now expecting a "reasonable season".

"It puts the food source out in the ocean and it cleans the rivers out," he said.

"Most of the prawns end up out there (in the ocean) where they'll grow and fatten up.

"Hopefully we'll get something out of it by the end of May and the beginning of June."

Inland of the coast, and the towns of Collinsville, Mt Coolan, Nebo and Moranbah have also received rain and gusty winds as Cyclone Debbie, now a tropical low, moves south west.

Mick Clark runs 1,500 Brahman cattle at Ibis Creek Station near Mt Coolon.

He has welcomed the rain ahead of winter after a very dry summer, receiving 73 millimetres in the last 24 hours which will help his cattle's feed supply.

"By this time of year the heat is gone so it'll be a real benefit for us," he said.

"And this rain is topping up the dams."

Blair Angus is a cattle producer, also near Mt Coolon, and he too has welcomed the rain.

"It is tremendous at the moment, the rain has been good, steady rain," he said.

"We have had about 100 millimetres in a bit over 24 hours so we very fortunate that it wasn't a deluge but just good, constant rain.

"On top of some good rain we had about a week before, the country looks extremely good."