Roofs have been wrenched from buildings, trees torn out of the ground and fences flattened but the full extent of Cyclone Debbie's carnage will be revealed as north Queenslanders emerge from their homes Wednesday morning.
The normally picturesque Hamilton Island was buffeted by winds up to 263km/h as the category 4 storm gathered strength on Monday afternoon before smashing into Airlie Beach and Proserpine at full force.
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Tourists bunker down and brave the "incredible noise" of Cyclone Debbie as it smashes into Hamilton Island, Airlie Beach and Bowen at lunch time on Tuesday.
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Cyclone Debbie: 'screaming and howling'
Tourists bunker down and brave the "incredible noise" of Cyclone Debbie as it smashes into Hamilton Island, Airlie Beach and Bowen at lunch time on Tuesday.
Even the Bureau of Meteorology's weather station at Bowen could not withstand the storm, going offline as winds intensified.
Video footage taken as the eye of the storm produced a momentary calm showed a smashed boat floating on the shoreline in Airlie Beach, roofs flapping and power poles knocked sideways as their high-voltage lines swayed dangerously.
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Whitsunday Regional Council mayor Andrew Willcox said 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.
Even the mayor's own house in Bowen, an hour away from the worst of the impact in Airlie Beach, was badly damaged, along with awnings from businesses in town and the local bowls club's roof.
"I've got the roller door blown off, plenty of water coming in through around the windows and doors," Cr Willcox said.
"Another place we've got her, the fence has blown over and we've got trees blown over, fallen on top of cars, lines down, awnings ripped off, a lot of tree damage, lot of trees down."
The sheer length of the system's impact took a toll on people and infrastructure and hours after the first damage began to tear through the Whitsundays, emergency services were kept bunkered down, unable to fix or even assess the problems.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Deputy Commissioner (Operations and Emergency Management) Mark Roche said a good understanding of the damage would be unlikely before Wednesday morning.
"The reality is we still have a significant event out there and it will be for many hours to come," he told Nine News.
The QFES could not provide an estimate of the damage on Tuesday afternoon as more than 45,000 people were left without power.
Winds continued to batter the Whitsundays even as Cyclone Debbie was downgraded to a category 3 late in the afternoon as it made its way inland and floodwaters had cut the Bruce Highway south of Proserpine.
Emergency services, Ergon Energy electricity workers and even the army were on hand to begin the clean-up overnight.