Cyclone Debbie hits the Queensland coast

Thank you for joining our Cyclone Debbie coverage.

The cyclone, downgraded to a category 2 early on Tuesday evening, has left a trail of destruction across north Queensland, with properties damaged and people seriously injured.

Striking the coastline as a category 4, the storm brought winds of up to 260km/h, shaking homes, shattering walls, felling powerlines and leaving more than 45,000 customers without power.

The army is on standby to help with the recovery.

Roofs have been wrenched from buildings, trees torn out of the ground and fences flattened but the full extent of Cyclone Debbie's carnage is unlikely to be known until morning.

Join us from Wednesday - our reporters will be on the ground as for some towns the clean-up begins, while for others, the storm nears.

To those in our state's north, stay safe this evening.

In Bowen, SES controller David Thicker said it was still unsafe for people to be outside.

"We won't let our people out there yet, we'll get out first light in the morning," he said.

QFES swift water and urban search and rescue crews were also waiting for the weather to ease before they could begin assessing the damage done to the coastal town.

The 270 people in Bowen's cyclone shelter, which was locked down at 3am on Tuesday, will likely be bunkered down there until Wednesday morning.

Crews from the SES, QFES, Ergon Energy and the army will be out in force on Wednesday to try and clear fallen trees, clear roads, and restore power to homes and businesses.

The latest map broadcast by the Bureau of Meteorology shows Cyclone Debbie continuing on its path inland as it weakens in severity.

The Premier has slammed the actions of some residents during the cyclone as "appalling".

People had been spotted driving and surfing during the the cyclone.

"I cannot believe this sort of behaviour. We heard from the police commissioner not to do those sorts of things, to stay off the roads and stay in your home," Annastacia Palaszczuk told ABC News.

"To go out there into the treacherous surf is simply irresponsible. Honestly, why do you want to put your own life at risk and put the lives of others at risk? 

"If you are out there putting your life at risk and something happens, there will be somebody who wants to do something to save you. 

"At the end of the day, please, everybody, don't do ridiculous things. Stay in your home. This is a cyclone. It is not just a thunderstorm or simple weather event.

"It is a serious event and we do not want to see serious loss of life."

Residents of the small town of Collinsville are bracing for their first category 2 cyclone, having been told there was no time to move as the storm tracked right for them.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told ABC News she was concerned about the 1500 residents living in Collinsville.

"We are now telling all Collinsville residents that it is no time to move. They now have to stay in their place of refuge, in their house," she said.

"They have defined that secure place and they need to stay there until the cyclone has passed.

"We were hoping it would be downgraded to a category 1. But it is still a category 2 at the moment, which is still high winds. 

"We need Collinsville people and families to stay safe. It will be a difficult night for people across our state."

Hamilton Island was not the only island in the Whitsundays to take a battering from Cyclone Debbie.

Daydream Island also bore the brunt of the cyclone, and the resort lost part of its jetty, the spa roof lifted, and the island lost two of its three mermaid statues.

While the dangerous conditions have prevented staff from working out the full extent of the damage, the heavy rain and strong winds had taken its toll.

Daydream Island resort staff said so far they had found "significant damage" to their jetty and pontoons, the spa roof had lifted, causing water damage, part of their boardwalk has been lifted away and two of their three "iconic mermaid statues" were swept away.

The resort said all staff and guests were safe and well, and they thanked well-wishers for the support.

"The resort's priority at the moment is the ongoing safety of on-island guests and staff who will need to be taken off island as soon as practical," they said in a statement.

"Daydream Island is endeavouring to contact all guests arriving on Daydream in the near future.

"The resort urges all guests due to arrive on Daydream Island up until this Friday, March 31, to contact our reservations team."

Whitsunday Regional Council mayor Andrew Willcox said Cyclone Debbie's slow movement, down to less than 10km/h an hour for much of the day, helped create a "nightmare" system.

"Because it's so slow moving, all the ground and everything's really wet," he said.

"Now the wind's come along and blasted it, so it's just an ideal recipe for blowing the trees over."

The Local Disaster Management Group chair said he had been in touch with authorities in Hamilton Island, Airlie Beach and Proserpine and there was extensive damage throughout.

It's still a waiting game for authorities in the worst-hit areas near Airlie Beach as they wait for the weather to ease enough to go out.

Even then, State Emergency Service local controller Mark Connors said simply assessing the scale of the damage would dominate early efforts from crews.

Like so many, he said the biggest issue was the cyclone's painstakingly slow progress as it worked its way toward the shore and beyond that, further west.

He had been with the SES since 1992 but said he had never seen anything like it.

"It just kept going and going and just ripping trees apart," the Airlie Beach-based officer said.

"I stood in my backyard and just watched my rainforest garden be destroyed. 

"I see debris flying through the air from neighbours' houses and fences collapsing."

Cyclone Debbie is tracking inwards from the ocean now, with coastal towns still buffeted by violent winds.

As the worst of Cyclone Debbie may have passed, emergency crews will be out in force to clear roads of downed trees and restore electricity lost to tens of thousands of homes.

In coming days, though, teams of a different kind will swing into action, many of them with a research agenda.

David Henderson from James Cook University will have a team of at least half a dozen engineers out to examine how structures withstood the sustained winds of Debbie. Among the aims will be to determine if the building codes need any tweaks to ensure structures are made sufficiently resilient to cope with similar or larger events in the future.

David King, head of the Centre for Disaster Studies at JCU, will also be running a range of programs. These likely to include surveys to find out how well warnings worked in getting people out of harm's way - such as those potential at risk from storm surges.

And Jonathan Nott, part of another JCU team, will be investigating those surges to see what can be learnt.

His group will also be examining the chemistry of water vapour and rain. Interestingly, cyclones affect the composition of rain, stripping out oxygen-18 isotopes by their violence relative to tropical monsoonal rain.

Knowing the chemical fingerprints of cyclones helps to understand how such storms are changing with global warming. As noted on Monday, Australia's north-east is seeing the fewest cyclones in at least 800 years, but the trend is also towards more powerful ones.

While everyone is safe and accounted for, a Whitsunday Island resort and spa has suffered extensive damage during Cyclone Debbie.

Daydream Island Resort and Spa has issued a statement after the island had borne the brunt of the category 4 storm.

"Whilst conditions are still dangerous outside we aren't able to ascertain the full extent of damage," the statement said.

The known damage was listed as:

• Extensive damage to vegetation across the island with many uprooted trees
• Significant damage to the resort's jetty and pontoon
• The Rejuvenation Spa roof lifted and the premises suffered water damage
• General water damage to the main atrium and accommodation wings
• A section of boardwalk lifted away
• Two of the three mermaid statues swept away.

"The resort's priority at the moment is the ongoing safety of on-island guests and staff who will need to be taken off the island as soon as practical," the statement said.

Insurers and industry was braced for costs running into the billions of dollars as Cyclone Debbie hit land on Tuesday afternoon around Bowen, in Queensland's north, with losses likely to exceed that of Cyclone Yasi five years ago.

Cyclone Yasi, which struck less populated areas of Queensland further north in February 2011 as a category 5 cyclone, caused insured losses of $1.4 billion, according to general insurers peak body, the Insurance Council of Australia. It declared Cyclone Debbie a catastrophe on Tuesday.

Insurance council chief executive Rob Whelan said it was too early to gauge the extent of Cyclone Debbie's damage.

"Insurers are already taking calls from policyholders, and many have teams standing by to enter the impact zone, assess claims and deliver assistance to their customers," Mr Whelan said.

Here is the story by Brian Robins and Georgia Wilkins.

While some communities lashed by Cyclone Debbie start to assess the damage, the warning zone still covers from Townsville to St Lawrence including Mackay and the Whitsunday Islands, extending inland to Charters Towers, Mount Coolon, Moranbah, and Pentland.

Cyclone Debbie appears to have added another blow to the Great Barrier Reef, hammering a region that had escaped the worst of the coral bleaching over the past 15 months, a senior researcher says.

The slow-moving category four tropical storm, which crossed the north Queensland coast on Tuesday afternoon, is likely to have left a trail of extensive damage to reefs in its path, much like Cyclone Yasi in 2011, said David Wachenfeld, director of reef recovery at the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

"The primary concern will be the immediate physical damage in that central part of the storm with high wind speeds," Dr Wachenfeld said. "It's had lots of time for the wave energy to be built up by the winds and for that wave energy to hit the tops of the reefs."

Here is the full story

Residents in Sarina could not believe their eyes as "snow" fell from the sky while Cyclone Debbie lashed north Queensland.

Daniel Pollock drove about "20 seconds" down to the beach next to the Sarina Surf Lifesaving Club, where foam was whipped at the water's edge.

As a result of the high winds from Cyclone Debbie, the foam flew up into the air and fell over the streets, resembling snow in the coastal town, about 34 kilometres south of Mackay.

Full story here

Cyclone Debbie has been downgraded to a category three storm, with sustained of 155km/h but wind gusts up to 220km/h.

It is currently estimated to be 45 km southeast of Bowen and 10 km northwest of Proserpine. Moving southwest at 13km/h.

The second eye wall of Cyclone Debbie is pounding an already badly damaged Airlie Beach area again, forcing everyone inside.

Television footage showed trees snapped and covering roads, roofs off homes and power poles lurching to the side, power lines drooping or flapping loosely.

Nine News reporter Jessica Millward was clearly scared as the windows of her hotel room rattled and shook in the ferocious wind.

"With every wind gust more of this window cracks," she said.

"The noise is very scary and I can imagine every one staying in our accommodation and other accommodation in the Whitsundays will be very scared."

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has warned north Queensland residents to stay inside and off the roads to allow emergency services to assess damage and respond to calls for help.

"Once this eye is passing over people will feel the opportunity to go out and have a look and they should not do that, they need to remain in place," she said.

The Bureau of Meteorology warned there was "still many hours to go" with strong winds to remain in Proserpine for the next eight to 10 hours and for the next four to six hours in Bowen.

"We are going to see the impact of Cyclone Debbie for the next three to five days as it travels down the coast," Ms Palaszczuk said.

The towns of Airlie Beach, Midge Point, Hamilton Island are still experiencing strong winds.

Early reports indicate there are more than 45,000 homes without power and severe structural damage to properties around Prosperine.

The weather bureau added there had been a close call with the feared storm surge.

The late arrival of the storm meant, fortunately, it didn't coincide with high tide, meaning only isolated areas have received inundation.

However, BoM Queensland regional director Bruce Gunn said "we are very fortunate that it didn't go higher .... we have missed out by a whisker".

The Department of Education and Training said schools in coastal and immediate inland areas from Giru in the north to St Lawrence in the south and inland to Charters Towers will remain closed until the situation is safe. Schools in Townsville will re-open on Wednesday.

Strong winds lash Bowen as Debbie hammers the north Queensland coast.