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Cyclone Debbie: The race for sand and supplies as north Queensland prepares

Jorge Branco

Former copper Bill Stillaway felt "lucky" to have escaped with $40,000 damage and a tree through his roof when Cyclone Yasi tore through Townsville in 2011.

On Sunday he was one of many who cut travel plans short, flying home to the northern centre to help his wife and two very young grandkids prepare for the latest cyclone to threaten the region.

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"(We're hoping for it to) not hit us or any other area where anybody else is living," he said, preparing for his fourth cyclone.

"It probably won't happen."

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As Cyclone Debbie advanced towards the coast north-east of Townsville on Sunday, the city's airport remained open but on watch as muggy, cloudy weather dominated while calm, methodical preparations were made for the cyclone looming out to sea.

Cyclone Debbie is expected to become a category 4 cyclone by the time it crosses the coast early on Tuesday. 

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One car park in the city's south was like an ant hill as cars came and went all day Sunday - stocking up on tonnes of sand.

The council was preparing for 20,000 sandbags to be snapped up across the city in preparation for likely heavy rain and a storm surge.

Full hessian sacks and even plastic supermarket bags loaded down cars of all types as residents who had often seen this drill several times before left to shore up homes.

Townsville residents of 17 years Karen and David Baldwin were stocking up for themselves and their kids, whose house was in a "red" zone for flooding.

Karen said the "best preparation is not needing it", adding she hoped the predicted cyclone path, further south near Ayr, meant the rainfall wouldn't be as devastating as after Yasi, when they went without power for six days.

She remembered the powerful gum trees bending and the birds disappearing ahead of that 2011 carnage.

It was a different story at petrol stations, where Townsville mum and BP worker Stacey Trainer said people had been "going crazy" filling up with fuel.

"We had people fighting over pumps," she told AAP.

Weatherzone: Queensland radar

"There were people filling up like 10 jerry cans."

Townsville Airport remained open on Sunday but expected high winds to affect flights as the cyclone approached.

Hire cars were being returned en masse as some travellers flew out early, while others, such as former copper Bill Stillaway, cut their trips away short to make preparations in Townsville.

When Yasi hit in 2011, a tree went through Bill and his wife's Rangewood home's roof.

"We were lucky he said," he said, because despite $40,000 damage they could stay in their home.

This time, they would have to take care of their grandkids, aged two years and five months

"It'll be interesting," he said.

"(The key to preparation) is mainly making sure you don't panic buy," he said.

"You've got the basics like water and you don't need that much because it won't last that long."

- with AAP

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