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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Helen Davidson (now), Christopher Knaus (earlier)

'Like a jumbo jet on my roof': Cyclone Debbie hits north-east Australia – as it happened

Strong winds and rain lash Queensland coast as Cyclone Debbie approaches

Final summary

We’ll be winding up this blog soon, but will continue coverage of the cyclone as it continues its path over Queensland. This is what is known now:

  • Tropical Cyclone Debbie has been downgraded to a category-three storm this afternoon, a few hours after it crossed the Queensland coast at 1pm AEST, making landfall between Airlie Beach and Bowen.
  • It is moving south-west at about 12km/h, and is forecast to move slowly south-west over the next 12 to 18 hours before curving to a more southerly track over inland Queensland.
  • The Bureau of Meteorology has warned that gusts may still reach 220km/h for the next hour or two but destructive winds are no longer expected in Townsville, Charters Towers, Mackay or Sarina.
  • The Queensland police commissioner has warned people to prepare for news of significant damage, injuries and perhaps even deaths.
  • Hamilton Island has said there are no reports of injuries in the Whitsundays, now that the storm has passed over.
  • Police commissioner Ian Stewart said a number of communities had been cut off from communication and it wasn’t known how badly they have been hit.
  • One man is in hospital after being seriously injured by a collapsing wall in Proserpine.
  • More then 48,000 homes are without power.
  • Several roads around Cannon Valley, Proserpine, and south of Proserpine, are closed because of flooding.
  • Queensland’s premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has said there are “preliminary reports” of significant structural damage in Proserpine, and has urged people to remain indoors while the slow-moving storm continues to batter the region.
  • Strong winds are expected to continue around Bowen for the next four to six hours, and around Proserpine for the next eight to 10.
  • Cyclone Debbie, which is expected to diminish into a tropical low on Wednesday, is expected to track south-west but is still moving extremely slowly and will bring heavy rains to inland Queensland, as well as probable floods.
  • The Insurance Council of Australia has declared a catastrophe in the region, triggering emergency measures for dealing with the large number of expected insurance claims.
  • An Australia defence force joint taskforce has been established to assist during and after the cyclone.
  • 1,000 personnel and HMAS Choules landing ship are ready to provide assistance and provide humanitarian disaster relief.

Updated

Reports are starting to come in from areas which have now been passed over by the cyclone.

The Hamilton Island authority says there were no injuries reported in the Whitsundays.

Several roads around Cannon Valley, Proserpine, and south of Proserpine, are closed because of flooding.

Townsville, however, will be returning to some regular operations tomorrow.

Updated

The Proserpine-based Whitsundays councillor John Collins said the initial winds of the cyclone sounded “like a jumbo jet is parked on my roof”.

“I’ve been through a few cyclones that are quick and nasty but this one is going to go all day,” he told AAP. “It’s a long wait, sitting here waiting while it tears everything up.”

At Bowen, the Whitsundays councillor Mike Brunker said “terrifying” winds were battering his home that sits on a hill overlooking Rose Bay.

“The bursts of 100km/h winds are the most frightening ones,” he told AAP as he bunkered down in his bedroom. “It’s hitting the southern end of my house and is just shaking the shit out of it.

“My back fence is laying in the neighbour’s yard. It got flogged both ways.”

The storm earlier pounded the Whitsunday Islands, with gusts of 263km/h recorded at Hamilton Island.

Updated

Debbie downgraded to category three

Cyclone Debbie has been downgraded to a category-three storm.

It’s now estimated to be 45km south-east of Bowen and 10km north-west of Proserpine, moving south-west at 13km/h.

The Bureau of Meteorology has warned that gusts may still reach 220km/h for the next hour or two.

“The system is forecast to move slowly south-west over the next 12 to 18 hours before curving to a more southerly track over inland Queensland,” it said.

“The system is expected to move further inland this afternoon and evening, and the peak winds near the centre will weaken rapidly. However, heavy rain is expected to continue across the region.

“Destructive winds with gusts over 125km/h are occurring about the coast and islands between about Cape Upstart and Cape Hillsborough (north of Mackay), including Bowen and Proserpine, and will extend further west along the coast to areas to Ayr during this afternoon. These destructive winds may extend to adjacent inland areas, including Collinsville and Mount Coolon late today into this evening.

“Destructive winds are no longer expected in Townsville, Charters Towers, Mackay or Sarina.”

Updated

“We’ve got three broken windows now, so the rooms are totalled,” a Proserpine resident, Sue, has told ABC about the moment her neighbour’s roof smashed into her house. “We’ve got water coming down the hallway … the doors are shaking.”

The ABC has also put together some dramatic before-and-after photos.

Updated

Summary

  • Cyclone Debbie crossed the Queensland coast at 1pm AEST, making landfall between Airlie Beach and Bowen.
  • It is moving south-west at about 12km/h.
  • The Queensland police commissioner has warned people to prepare for news of significant damage, injuries and perhaps even deaths.
  • Police commissioner Ian Stewart said a number of communities had been cut off from communication and it wasn’t known how badly they have been hit.
  • One man is in hospital after being seriously injured by a collapsing wall in Proserpine.
  • More then 43,000 homes are without power.
  • Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has said there are “preliminary reports” of significant structural damage in Proserpine, and has urged people to remain indoors while the slow-moving storm continues to batter the region.
  • Strong winds are expected to continue around Bowen for the next four to six hours, and around Proserpine for the next eight to 10.
  • Cyclone Debbie, which is expected to diminish into a tropical low on Wednesday, is expected to track south-west but is still moving extremely slowly and will bring heavy rains to inland Queensland, as well as probable floods.
  • The Insurance Council of Australia has declared a catastrophe in the region, triggering emergency measures for dealing with the large number of expected insurance claims.
  • An Australia defence force joint taskforce has been established to assist during and after the cyclone.
  • 1,000 personnel and HMAS Choules landing ship are ready to provide assistance and provide humanitarian disaster relief.

Updated

The media conference is now over but you can rewatch it here.

Updated

Palaszczuk has met with local mayors and said they have been kept up to date. She said lessons had been learned from previous cyclones.

“The mood is one of uncertainty,” she said.

“We’re seeing families at the moment are getting hammered by this system. This would be an incredibly scary moment for them, and they would have been going through it for hours and hours and hours.”

Palaszczuk said there were evacuees in shelters across the region, and some people had shown up to hospitals seeking shelter. They were all being looked after, she said.

The cyclone is expected to track over the Emerald area, the bureau spokesman said, and flooding is likely.

The threat of storm surge in Mackay has passed for now, a spokesman for the Bureau of Meteorology has said: “By a whisker we’ve missed out.”

The surge is increasing but the tide is dropping and it’s believed the threat has passed. Some communities have faced some water inundation.

He said the cyclone had taken a “crooked path” but it was on its way and had sped up slightly to 12km/h.

Previous cyclones were faster, he said. Larry was between 30 and 40km/h, and Yasi was somewhere in between.

Updated

One man injured in Proserpine

The police commissioner has warned there may be deaths from this cyclone.

One man has been “hurt badly” by a collapsing wall in Proserpine and has been taken to hospital, Stewart has confirmed.

“What we need to brace for, this is a very destructive storm and storm system … and we are going to get lots of reports of damage and, sadly, I think we will also receive reports of injuries, if not death.”

Stewart said the reason behind his warning was the loss of power and phone connectivity cutting off communities.

“We just don’t know about it.”

Updated

The Queensland police commissioner, Ian Stewart, has urged people to stay off the roads if they don’t need to go out in the aftermath of the cyclone, to leave them free for emergency services.

“Stay at home, start to clean up your own area, but leave the roads and other tasks to emergency services personnel.”

He has also warned against looting and asked people to photograph and report anyone doing so to police.

Updated

45,000 homes without power

More than 45,000 homes are without power and major trees are down, the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has just said.

There have also been preliminary reports of serious damage to structures in Proserpine.

Palaszczuk said winds around the eye of the storm were increasing and emergency services in the area were unable to go out to assist people at the moment.

“This is a dangerous cyclone,” she said. “People must stay indoors. Please do not go outside, and please contact the emergency services for assistance. When they can help you over the phone, they will.”

She said strong winds would continue for eight to 10 hours in Proserpine, and four to six hours in Bowen, and the impact of Cyclone Debbie would continue for the next three days.

Updated

Once the cyclone drops down to a tropical low, around Wednesday, it’s expected to move south-east and bring rain to inland regions, the Bureau of <eteorology has told ABC local radio.

Rainfall has reached 80mm an hour in some inland areas and it’s expected to reach up to 200m an hour or even higher.

Below is the current flood warning summary:

  • Major flood warning for the Pioneer river
  • Moderate flood warning for the Don river and flood warning for the Proserpine river
  • Minor flood warning for the lower Isaac river
  • Flood watch for coastal catchments between Ayr and the NSW border, extending inland to parts of the central highlands and coalfields, central west, Maranoa and Warrego, and Darling Downs and Granite Belt forecast districts.

Updated

The disaster monitoring service Force 13 has shared what it says is footage of Cyclone Debbie, captured by the International Space Station as it moved over the Pacific Ocean. It is truly breathtaking.

Michael Shaw in Airlie Beach has sent us this video, showing the strength of the cyclone winds and damage they have caused to his home.

Updated

This high-definition image is from the Himawari-8 satellite, taken a little while ago as the cyclone crossed the north Queensland coast.

Updated

Federal assistance has already been mobilised, in a number of different ways, ministers have told parliament this afternoon. From AAP:

HMAS Choules is on the way to provide emergency assistance, and 1,000 ADF members have been deployed or are on standby to assist, according to the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull.

RAAF airlift aircraft, as well as army and navy hospital helicopters, are ready to assist and army engineering units are also prepared.

Brigadier Chris Field, who played a key role in 2011 flood reconstruction in Queensland, has been appointed recovery coordinator.

Medical, counselling and search and rescue teams have been deployed along with army engineers ready to clear roads and navy personnel to clear debris from harbours.

The justice minister, Michael Keenan, told parliament the disaster response plan would allow the fast-tracking of requests for non-financial assistance from the Australian government, including ADF capability such as satellite imagery.

Two federal emergency management assistance experts have been embedded with Queensland authorities.

Once the cyclone passed, jointly funded natural disaster recovery and relief arrangements would be put in place, allowing the reimbursement of up to 75% of state spending.

“This will assist people to meet their in needs, such as emergency hardship or stress payments, support for local councils and assistance for state governments to rebuild essential assets,” Keenan said.

“We will assist Queensland with what will be significant costs after Tropical Cyclone Debbie.”

The human services minister, Alan Tudge, said the national emergency call centre had been put on standby to help the Queensland government.

He said if the cyclone was formally declared a “major disaster”, departmental staff and social workers would be deployed to community evacuation centres, as well as a mobile service bus.

Support would also be given to pharmacists to maintain supplies of medicines.

Updated

Rosalind Willcocks, who owns a caravan park at Hideaway Bay, halfway between Bowen and Airlie Beach, says the cyclone has “absolutely ripped us to shreds”.

The Hydeaway Bay Caravan and Camping Park is a couple of hundred metres from the oceanfront, close to the point where Cyclone Debbie hit the mainland.

Rosalind and husband Paul sent their guests packing a few days ago as a precaution, in retrospect a very sensible call.

Debbie’s roaring winds have stripped the site bare (apart from the brick buildings) and sent “all sorts of crap” flying and uprooted dozens of large trees.

“We’ve got the eye over us at the moment. It’s just destroyed our trees and our garden,’ she said.

“The buildings are brick but we did lose a barbecue, fridge, things like that went flying off.

“We have at least 30 trees down. There are just no leaves left, they’ve been shredded.”

The couple are relying on a new generator that has already failed once.

“There’s only two of us here to clean it all up,” she said.

“Hopefully we’ve passed the worst of it now and we’ve just got a few days of cleaning up and wait for the electricity to come back.”

Debbie declared a catastrophe: ICA

The insurance industry peak body has officially declared Cyclone Debbie a catastrophe.

The Insurance Council of Australia’s declaration triggers the establishment of a taskforce, the opening of an emergency hotline and the mobilisation of staff to work directly with local services and policy holders.

“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,” said the ICA’s chief executive, Rob Whelan.

“Insurers are prioritising claims from this disaster, and using a triage system to get assistance to those policyholders in most urgent need of assistance first.”

Cyclone Yasi caused insured losses of $1.4bn.

Updated

With the eye of the cyclone passing just north of Airlie Beach, resident Tony Fontes reported a typical, deceptive moment of respite from roaring winds and driving rain.

He sent the following text about 45 minutes ago.

“It has calmed right down and no rain. We are OK but have lost a few more trees. Mobile phone and internet are very dodgy.”

There are reports of people attempting to go for a surf at Airlie Beach – or if we are looking at this image, standing by the shore contemplating going in.

Either way, not clever.

If you do want to have some cyclone-related fun, this resident has expertly had a go during a live TV interview from the safety of his living room.

The eye is now over the Airlie Beach area and the official advice is to not go outside, even though it seems calm. Strong winds could resume at any time.

Updated

Here are a few snaps and clips from around the cyclone-affected region.

“It’s been a long night and day,” Rebecca Nicol tells Guardian Australia.

“No power of course. Wind has been swirling and gusting. Eye has just passed. We live right on the edge of Abell Point marina.”

The video Nicol has sent was taken at about 10.30 this morning when it was gusting about 120 knots.

An ABC journalist, Jonathan Hair, took this photo of the Airlie port marina. Airlie Beach is now under the eye of the storm.

Kev and Donna Poschelk are riding out the storm in their home in Bowen with Josh, who is surely having a memorable 13th birthday.

“We’re looking towards the east where the eye of the cyclone is supposed to be. Wind is coming from the west behind us (all day). No electricity and no TV so we are sitting on the lounge watching the action through open (cyclone-rated) lattice.”

Kev and Donna Poschelk in Bowen during Cyclone Debbie
Kev and Donna Poschelk in Bowen during Cyclone Debbie. Photograph: Kev and Donna Poschelk

Updated

'This is going to be a terrible disaster'

From AAP:

Residents in the path of Cyclone Debbie could be waiting until Wednesday for emergency help, as the destructive slow-moving storm keeps the region in lockdown for hours.

The northern region SES manager, Dale Camp, said strong winds were expected to continue into the evening.

The high-level category-four system is not expected to weaken to a tropical low until midday on Wednesday.

“It’s a very slow-moving cyclone, so we’re talking anywhere between six and 14 hours until it’s completely over in each location,” he said. “So that puts it well into this evening, and that’s the problem, everyone is going to have to stay in their house all day, and then stay there all night as well.

Camp said poor light in the evening would hamper any clean-up efforts.

“We have to wait for that wind to die down before we move around, and if it’s at night time it makes it very difficult to see things like floodwaters, so they’ll probably be waiting until first light tomorrow,” he said.

Debbie had moved as slow as 4km/h in heading to the north Queensland coast on Tuesday morning but quickened to 12km/h as the eyewall made landfall near Airlie Beach just after midday.

A Whitsundays councillor, John Collins, said Cyclone Debbie was one of the slowest he had experienced.

“I’ve been through a few cyclones that are quick and nasty but this one is going to go all day,” he said.

“It’s a long wait, sitting here waiting while it tears everything up.

“This is going to be a terrible disaster when it is all over and done with.”

Updated

Here is the latest tracking map from the Bureau of Meteorology. Debbie has just made landfall between Airlie Beach and Bowen as a category-four cyclone.

Updated

If you have taken video or photos of Cyclone Debbie, please send them through to helen.davidson@theguardian.com. We would love to run them on the site.

This request is only if you are able to do so safely. Please don’t take any risks.

Cyclone eye reaches mainland

The eye of Cyclone Debbie has now reached mainland Queensland, making landfall between Bowen and Airlie Beach.

It’s estimated to be 50km east south-east of Bowen and 30km north-east of Proserpine. It has picked up speed slightly but remains very slow, moving south-west at 12km/h.

The local ABC radio transmitter at Bowen has lost power and residents are urged to tune into the 630 AM frequency for emergency coverage.

Updated

Operators of the Kinchant dam at Mackay have begun releasing water after the heavy rains brought by the cyclone sent it beyond capacity overnight.

Colin Bendall, executive general manager of operations and services at SunWater, told ABC Rural this was a routine action in response to a full dam, and they began releasing water about 11.30pm Monday.

About 700 megalitres a day will be discharged, and has cut off a road at a point known as Anthony’s Crossing. Bendall said plenty of notice was given to residents and, owing to the unpredictability of cyclones, they waited until last night so as not to cut off the road too early.

Updated

Summary

As of half an hour ago, Cyclone Debbie remained a category-four storm, sitting about 35km north-west of Hamilton Island and 65km east of Bowen. It’s moving at a very slow 9km/h.

At the centre of the cyclone the BoM has recorded sustained winds of 185km/h with gusts to 260km/h.

Its very destructive core was already impacting the Whitsundays, and was expected to cross the north Queensland mainland between Bowen and Airlie Beach early this afternoon, but those areas are already being affected.

All residents in its path have been told to stay calm and remain in a secure shelter above expected water levels. Don’t go outside, obviously, including when the eye passes over and conditions appear calm but will worsen again with little warning.

Reports have already come in of roofs lifting off houses and buildings, and about 23,000 homes are without power, mostly in Mackay and the Whitsundays.

Waves of up to eight metres were recorded by buoys off Mackay overnight, which Weatherzone said was only the fourth time in recorded history.

There are concerns about higher than normal tides coinciding with the cyclone to create dangerous storm surge conditions and potential flooding.

Almost 400 schools and childcare centres in north Queensland have been closed.

Updated

Hello, this is Helen Davidson, taking over the live coverage of Cyclone Debbie for the next few hours.

I’ll get a summary of the current situation up shortly, as the storm moves ever so slowly over the Queensland coast.

But first a word of warning from actor, Russell Crowe, in case you were waiting on that vital celebrity encouragement to get out of the storm.

Updated

A Whitsunday regional councillor, Mike Brunker, who is based in Bowen, said there was “huge concern” about the ability of the town’s older buildings to withstand the cyclone’s onslaught.

The last time Bowen, population 10,000, was rebuilt after a major cyclone was in 1958, when it was “wiped nearly off the map”, Brunker said.

This meant much of the local housing dates to before cyclone ratings were introduced to building codes in the early 1980s.

“If the eye goes just south of us and it’s around 250km/h wind gusts, it’s going to be interesting because we have got a lot of older houses, that’s the issue,” Brunker said.

“It’s a huge concern because [Cyclone Debbie] is going so slow.

Where Yasi “ripped through” in 2011, Debbie was “going back to 6km an hour”.

“With the rain and the softening of the ground, and the hours of relentless blowing, that’s when trees fly, your roofs go and that sort of stuff,” Brunker said.

“I think we will get some sustained damage. I’m looking at my next door neighbour’s solar panels as we speak and it’ll be interesting to see how many solar panels survive.”

Local authorities “won’t hold out much hope” for the local golf course, but caravan parks would be spared the brunt of crashing waves because of foreshores they “cemented back in the 50s”, Brunker said.

The modern-day Horseshoe Bay Road was now set back 150 metres from where the old road was, “that’s how much [foreshore] we’ve lost in 50 years”, he said.

“I took some before-and-after shots last Wednesday so it’ll be interesting what comes about.”

Updated

I’m handing over our coverage to reporter Helen Davidson, who will continue to monitor Cyclone Debbie as it continues its slow crawl toward the north Queensland coast.

Wind gusts have reached 263km/h at Hamilton Island

Wind gusts have reached a staggering 263km/h at Hamilton Island, as the eye wall of Cyclone Debbie continues to move slowly through the Whitsundays.

This footage from Instagram user Tarin Moloney gives a sense of what it’s like for those on the island right now. Moloney said the pressure from the wind was making her ears pop.

Cyclone Debbie spam. The pressure from the wind is making our ears pop. #cyclonedebbie #hamiltonisland

A post shared by Tarin (@tarinmoloney) on

Updated

Queensland Health has activated emergency operation centres and says hospitals remain open, despite the loss of power, including in Townsville and Mackay.

The Queensland Fire and Emergency Services deputy commissioner Mark Roche said he had not yet received reports of widespread structural devastation. But he said his staff would not go outside until the winds reduce to at least 80km/h.

“We are seeing some of the footage coming from areas like Hamilton Island. A lot of wind, a lot of rain,” he told the ABC.

“We do believe there will be significant structural damage, significant flooding. There will be electrical wires down and the community just need to ride out this storm.”

Asked what reports he had from the popular tourist hub of Airlie Beach, Roche said:

“What they are seeing is trees falling out or being uprooted. Some minor damage around their houses and property … but the reality is this will be widespread and this will be across a very vast area and people just need to ride out the storm.”

Updated

Yachts moored off of Airlie Beach are already being pushed around by Cyclone Debbie, well before the most destructive winds are forecast. Channel Seven has just posted this footage of a yacht being pushed into the breakwater.

Updated

Police staffing triple-zero calls have told of increasingly panicked calls for help, according to AAP.

One caller said the roof was lifting off an apartment building in the Whitsunday region. Another caller from the region is sheltering in the laundry of a home whose roof has caved in.

We’re still several hours out from Cyclone Debbie’s landfall. Timing is fluid, but the cyclone continues to crawl south-west towards the coast at 6km/h. The Bureau of Meteorology’s latest forecast is for landfall about 2pm. At 10am local time, Debbie was about 75km east of Bowen and 50km north of Hamilton Island.

Updated

Powerlines are reportedly down in Mackay and police are pleading with residents to stay inside. Thousands of homes remain without power in the town.

Debris is flying through the air in Airlie Beach. AAP photographer, Dan Peled, said the power is also out.

“We just had a branch fly into our window,” Peled said from his room at a local hotel.
“We’ve got howling winds, torrential rain. The trees are sideways. There’s lots of vegetation debris and there’s a bit of water in the hallway. We’re just looking at a wall of white with the trees, we can’t see much. It’s full on.”

Large waves are being recorded across the north Queensland coast. Waves of up to eight metres were recorded by buoys off Mackay overnight. WeatherZone said that had only happened three times in the site’s history.

Wave forecasts for Cyclone Debbie

Updated

Australian Red Cross volunteers are supporting residents at shelters in Bowen and Townsville. The Red Cross is also working with the Queensland government to support those affected by the cyclone and has launched its Register.Find.Reunite service, which will help connect friends and family during and after the cyclone. Its state director, Leisa Bourne, said:

“We’re asking everyone in cyclone-affected areas to do three important things: stay safe, let people know where you are, and look out for your neighbours.”

Updated

James Cook University’s cyclone testing station is seeking to learn from the cyclone.

The centre’s director, David Henderson, said his staff had placed wind measurement devices on homes up and down the coast, to test how the buildings cope with long-lasting, turbulent conditions.

Researchers are continually learning from cyclones and improving building standards. After Cyclone Yasi in 2011, researchers realised that garage doors needed to be more resistant to damaging winds.

“I guess there’s always things to learn,” Henderson told the ABC.

“Say, after Cyclone Yasi, we worked with the industry and got some changes in there on garage doors, so now there’s legislated that garage doors in cyclone regions have to be cyclone-safe,” he said.

“[There] may be other things coming out of this one as well.”

Updated

Tony Fontes is a dive tourism operator in Airlie Beach who lives about 500 metres from the ocean – “but you can’t see it”.

“It’s a whiteout,” he said. “You can’t see much, just a lot of rain.”

Fontes said he expected Cyclone Debbie would be a mixed development for the Great Barrier Reef.

Coral would be damaged locally but the stir of water would cool sea surface temperatures now causing mass bleaching across the broader reef.

“Locally we’ve seen cyclone damage to the reef before and it is awful,” he said. “Locally it’s a disaster but reef-wide it’s a good thing – I guess that’s the best way to look at it.”

Bunkering down from the cyclone was “very exciting – actually it is bloody scary”, he said. Lots of large tree branches crashing on the house roof and steadily rising water.”

The debris was all vegetation so far, Fontes said: “We’ve got some very large gum trees in the area and the tops are all snapping off and coming down.”

Power had been out since around 11pm on Monday and the Telstra landline phone and national broadband network followed, Fontes said.

He was passing the time with a torch and a puzzle, between periodic dashes outside to clear debris to stop flooding around his house.

“You just get tired of looking out the window and then about every two hours you run outside and clear the debris away so the water can keep flowing – and then you look out the window again.”

Updated

Vision continues to emerge from Hamilton Island, which is being hit by wind gusts of more than 200km/h. Visitors to the popular tourist destination largely get around on golf buggies. This video, from Twitter user Elisa Clements, shows a buggy flipped by the destructive winds.

Almost 400 schools and childcare centres in north Queensland have been closed.
The state government said 131 state schools, 49 Catholic and independent schools, and 211 early childhood centres have shut their doors from north of Townsville to south of Proserpine.

Local children play in the safety of a temporary cyclone shelter in Ayr
Local children play in the safety of a temporary cyclone shelter in Ayr. Photograph: Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

I mentioned early that Hamilton Island had experienced wind gusts of 222km/h. Let’s put that in perspective. Hamilton Island has not experienced winds that strong for 15 years, according to Fairfax’s WeatherZone.

23,000 homes without power as Cyclone Debbie approaches

There is further information to hand about power outages along the coast. Ergon Energy says that 23,000 homes are now without power, mostly in Mackay and the Whitsundays. More homes will lose power as the cyclone makes landfall.

Ergon Energy’s communications manager, John Fowler, said power would not be restored today. He said it was difficult to estimate when power may return.

“Depends on the extent of damage to our network, where the damage is, and our ability to access the damage to make repairs and get that power back on,” Fowler said.

“But we certainly wouldn’t expect any power restoration today, given the cyclonic winds and it is simply too dangerous to get our crews out there to even look at restoration work.”

You can find out more about the affected areas here.

Bowen, pictured below, still has power for the most part.

Updated

The worst of the cyclone is still being felt in the Whitsundays.

Twitter user @sfdansmith captured this extraordinary footage from his room in the Reef View Hotel on Hamilton Island.

Mackay and other areas south of the cyclone are now in low tide. But the cyclone will see a storm tide of 1.5 metres above normal levels. That will create problems over the next few hours, when the cyclone makes landfall and the high tide returns.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s Adam Morgan said the tide was a significant risk to the safety of residents.

“When we add high tide plus that 1.5 metres, we could see flooding and inundation across low-lying areas,” Morgan told Channel 10.

Updated

Listen to the screeching winds audible in this video from Hamilton Island. The bureau’s latest observations record winds of 180km/h and gusts of 222km/h on Hamilton.

Whitsunday regional council’s mayor, Andrew Wilcox, is reporting horizontal, torrential rain outside his home. He said 11,000 homes in his region were without power.

Wilcox told the ABC that people should not venture outside, and that “there is nowhere to go anyway”.

“Unfortunately, Debbie isn’t playing the game,” Wilcox said.

“She’s sort of slowed down out there so she can just keep smashing us. What would be ideal is for her to either, one, go away, but if not come straight across quite quickly, but, yeah, Debbie isn’t playing the game here,” he said.

Wilcox has also warned the cyclone could hit the Whitsundays’ tourist-dependent economy.

“The good thing about it is the Whitsundays is resilient,” he said. “The people here are very resilient.

“This will be a minor hiccup. We will get in, do the clean-up, and it will be an another wonderful Whitsunday welcome for people to come and visit.

The region’s Liberal National party MP, George Christensen, agreed there would be “economic damage, without a doubt”. Christensen urged tourists not to cancel plans to travel to the region after Cyclone Debbie had passed.

“Don’t cancel it, please come, because these businesses and the locals will be needing that income in the region,” he told Channel 10.

“And you’ll still be seeing a picture-perfect place because cyclones only hang around for a few days.”

And here’s the latest graphic plotting the movement of Cyclone Debbie. Its core should make landfall just south of Bowen after midday.

Updated

Power outages reported across north Queensland coast

There are reports of power outages already affecting the coast. Ergon Energy’s outage finder reports power lost to thousands of homes in Mackay, Airlie Beach, Bowen, and other nearby areas.

Minor flooding has also begun in Mackay.

Updated

Journalists covering the approach of Cyclone Debbie have been criticised for ignoring warnings to stay inside.

A Whitsunday Shire councillor, Mike Brunker, says television journalists covering Cyclone Debbie should “pull their heads in” and stay indoors for safety’s sake.

Brunker, who lives in Bowen and is also a former mayor of the region, said reporters were venturing outside against the advice of emergency services.

He said anyone venturing outside was putting themselves in harm’s way.

“If a sign flies off a guide post in 120km winds it’ll just cut your head off and if that happens on live TV, how would you feel?”

He called on broadcasters to take more care for their own sake and the sake of the public.

“You’ve got one goose down on the front beach here at Bowen, standing there getting blown away and people go for a drive then and go see where they are,” Brunker told AAP.

Updated

This morning’s first satellite images of Cyclone Debbie are beginning to emerge from Japan’s Himawari series of satellites.

The images are being updated every 10 minutes, and you can follow them here, or, for better quality, at this link.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s latest update says the eye wall of Cyclone Debbie is beginning to impact on parts of the Whitsunday Islands. The cyclone is inching towards the coast at a slow 6km/h, the bureau said. It is currently 85km east-northeast of Bowen and 60km north of Hamilton Island, and is forecast to make landfall between Ayr and Midge Point about midday. Incredibly, 194mm of rainfall has been recorded at Strathdickie, near Proserpine, in one hour.

Wind gusts of 200km/h have been recorded at Hamilton Island airport.

Eight metre waves have been recorded near Mackay, according to Nine.

Police commissioner warns worst yet to come

Queensland’s police commissioner, Ian Stewart, is warning the worst of Cyclone Debbie is yet to come. Stewart said the cyclone is moving very slowly and its destructive core is still to pass over the coast. He also warned residents to prepare for a long day inside.

“The main core area of the cyclone – so that’s the area with the very, very high and destructive winds – really has not passed generally over the coast,” Stewart told the ABC.

“It’s tucked right on the edge of the coast and certainly places like Proserpine, Airlie Beach, the islands, Hayman, Hamilton, all of those,” he said.

“They would feel the full force of those winds, but the main core has not yet passed directly on to the coast and that’s when we’re going to see those sustained, destructive winds for many, many hours.”

Strong winds and rain lash Airlie Beach on Tuesday.
Strong winds and rain lash Airlie Beach on Tuesday. Photograph: Dan Peled/AAP

Updated

A Bureau of Meteorology forecaster, Adam Morgan, has urged residents in the cyclone’s path to stay inside. He said in Hamilton Island, peak wind gusts of 189km/h have been recorded. Incredibly strong winds of more than 100km/h have been recorded continuously since 9pm Monday.

Mackay has seen category one-strength winds, Morgan said, and areas west of the town have experienced 400mm of rainfall. Morgan repeated warnings that residents should not go outside, even when they think the worst has passed.

“The strongest winds are on the outside of the eye,” he said. “That eye, as I heard mentioned, may take a while to cross.

“This is a dangerous period of time. People should not go outside because winds will quickly pick up from exactly the same strength that fastest winds were but from the opposition direction.

“Don’t go outside during the eye and stay in shelter, even once the eye of the cyclone passes.”

Updated

The force of the winds in Mackay is already causing damage. The latest readings from Mackay airport record winds of 65km/h, and gusts of up to 89km/h. That’s still far below what’s forecast for Cyclone Debbie.

Updated

Cyclone Debbie hits the Whitsundays

The impact of Cyclone Debbie is now being felt most on the Whitsundays, the popular holiday islands off the north Queensland coast. The Queensland deputy police commissioner Steve Gollschewski said he had received reports of roof damage at police facilities in the Whitsundays region.

“We’re getting some reports already of roofs starting to lift, including at some of our own facilities in the Whitsundays,” he told the ABC.

On Hamilton Island, residents struggled to sleep as the cyclone approached. Helena Mo, who is holidaying on the island at the Reef View Hotel, said the wind had started to get “pretty bad” about 1am but the worst came after 4am.

“I have to admit it’s been difficult to get some sleep, even with the knowledge that we are staying in a very secure hotel,” she told AAP. “I have never heard gusts of wind howl this loud and this intense before.

“You can’t help but worry about what’s going to happen next.”

The conditions on Hayman Island, the most northerly of the Whitsundays, were also deteriorating.

Updated

The latest rainfall figures on the Bureau of Meteorology site are pretty astonishing. On Hamilton Island, 89.2mm has fallen since 9am on Monday. Bowen has had 76.8mm of rain during the same time, and Mackay 110.6mm.

Updated

Mackay’s mayor, Greg Williamson, has tried to clarify confusion over whether cyclone evacuation centres in the town are open. Williamson said evacuation centres wouild open only after the cyclone has passed. He said authorities do not want residents on the road while the cyclone is still active.

Williamson used a colourful turn of phrase to describe the night in Mackay.

“It’s been a woolly night in north Queensland and it’s not over yet, Debbie’s fabulous dance over the Coral Sea in the last couple of days is still going and she hasn’t crossed the coast yet,” he told the ABC.

“Unfortunately it’s over the Whitsunday Islands now and still heading for the Bowen region, so our hearts and thoughts and prayers are going out to people in that region.”

Amateur footage from Mackay suggests the wind is starting to pick up.

Updated

Vision of turbulent winds and rain in tourist hotspot Airlie Beach has begun to emerge.

While many in Queensland are doing everything they can to get out of Debbie’s path, others are rushing towards it.

Josh Morgerman is a US cyclone chaser who came to Queensland to experience the category-four storm. Morgerman is now in Bowen, where the destructive core of the storm is due to hit. He has described conditions at 6.30am local time as “turbulent but nothing too crazy yet”.

Keep in mind, Morgerman has experienced some pretty harrowing cyclones. He was in the Philippines for typhoon Haiyan, one of the most intense cyclones on record. Haiyan killed more than 6,000 people in the Philippines alone.

Updated

The latest radar image from the Bureau of Meteorology’s Bowen radar shows the extent of rainfall expected between Mackay in the south and Townsville further north. In some areas, 33cm of rain is expected to fall on Tuesday. The deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, gave us a sense of the scale of the expected rainfall.

“That is absolutely astronomical,” Joyce told ABC radio.

“So for your listeners, 13 inches of rain is what people out west get in a year.”

Updated

Far north Queensland sees more than its fair share of tropical cyclones. So how are homes in the region built to withstand destructive winds? James Cook University’s cyclone testing station research director, John Ginger, said homes built since the mid-1980s, under improved building standards, would be able to withstand Debbie.

“Houses built in the cyclonic regions of Queensland to improved building standards since the mid-1980s can be expected to withstand wind-loads forecast in TC Debbie,” Ginger said.

“Some older houses will be vulnerable to damage,” he said.

“Houses in low-lying coastal regions especially to the south of the crossing, and are subjected to storm surge will be vulnerable to significant damage.”

Hotel doors and windows are boarded up in preparation for Cyclone Debbie
Hotel doors and windows are boarded up in preparation for Cyclone Debbie. Photograph: Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images
Workers put up plywood panels to protect a shop on the Strand in Townsville
Workers put up plywood panels to protect a shop on the Strand in Townsville. Photograph: Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images

Updated

The ABC has reported that engine problems in two of the navy’s largest ships – the amphibious assault ships HMAS Canberra and HMAS Adelaide – have rendered them unable to assist in the Cyclone Debbie response. Labor has described that as “very, very troubling”. The deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, has just told ABC radio that another vessel, HMAS Choules, has been deployed instead and will arrive in the region in time.

“That’s how you manage things, if one isn’t available you send the other one,” Joyce said.

Updated

Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has just appeared on ABC to urge residents to stay safe, and prepare for a long day. She warned residents against being lulled into a false sense of security when the eye of the storm passes over.

“People will see some daylight and think that the worst of the storm has passed. Once again, I must urge everyone to stay indoors for most of today,” Palaszczuk said.

She said the storm was expected to make landfall between midday and 1pm, and authorities were expecting strong winds of 260km/h.

“My message to everyone in the region is to please stay safe. This is going to be a long day. A lot of people are bunkered down. They’re in a safe place, but it is going to take a long time, well into this afternoon and to the evening before winds even start to die down,” Palaszczuk said.

“The best place to be is in your safe place in your home. Do you not move out. Stay there. Stay with your family close by.”

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk (centre) speaks during a meeting of the Queensland Disaster Management Committee in Kedron on Monday.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk (centre) speaks during a meeting of the Queensland Disaster Management Committee in Kedron on Monday. Photograph: Stuart Layt/AAP

Many residents in the cyclone’s path have chosen to stay put. Emergency services are advising them to bunker down, keep in contact and be prepared for a loss of power.

If the winds die down, residents are urged not to go outside. It may just be a brief lull in the storm.

A Queensland police deputy commissioner, Steve Gollschewski, had this advice for those who had chosen to stay in their homes.

“Traditionally it’s always the bathroom and areas areas where the walls and floors are strong that people should shelter in,” he said.

“Take whatever they need in those areas. We tell people to stay connected. Keep your phones charged, keep them on as long as possible.

“Power is going out across the region. If people want to know what’s happening, they can remain connected through their devices if they have them.”

A message to Cyclone Debbie from the residents of Bowen
A message to Cyclone Debbie from the residents of Bowen. Photograph: Reuters

Updated

This is the view of Cyclone Debbie from space as it bears down on north Queensland.

Tropical Cyclone Debbie closing in on the northeastern coast of Australia.

The image was taken by the Japan Meteorological Agency’s Himawari-8 satellite and shared by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Updated

Cyclone Debbie is the worst tropical cyclone to hit Queensland since Cyclone Yasi in 2011. Yasi was a category-five tropical cyclone, which wiped out almost $1bn worth of crops and agriculture, destroyed yachts at Port Hinchinbrook, and caused the death of a man who was asphyxiated by fumes while sheltering inside with his generator.

This picture serves as a reminder of the force of Yasi, which tossed yachts about at the Hinchinbrook marina in early 2011.

Devastation caused by Cyclone Yasi at the Hinchinbrook marina

AAP has compiled a list of the most deadly cyclones in recent history:

INGRID – March 2005
Caused widespread damage in both the Northern Territory and Western Australia and then caused the death of five people in Papua New Guinea after large swells capsized their boat. Ingrid made landfall at Queensland’s Cape York as a category-four storm before intensifying into category five as it hit the Top End and then later crossing the Kimberley coastline.
LARRY – March 2006
Cyclone Larry formed off the far north Queensland coast and intensified to hit near Innisfail as a category four to five system. The clean-up bill was around $1.5bn, wiping out the local banana industry and damaging 10,000 homes, totally destroying 500.
MONICA – April 2006
Cyclone Monica, a category five, intensified in the Gulf of Carpentaria and crossed Cape York in a remote spot, avoiding townships. The damage bill was estimated at least $6m, which including the loss of a weather station which was completely wiped out.
GEORGE – March 2007
Cyclone George formed in the Top End and hit the Northern Territory and Western Australia with great intensity, causing three fatalities and numerous injuries around Port Hedland. One thousand people in mining camps were left stranded and $6m worth of damage was done.

Updated

Speaking of Mackay, 25,000 residents were urged to evacuate from the town’s low-lying areas on Monday. It is unclear how many followed that advice. Gollschewski said that would “become more clear this morning as we are able to connect with our people up there”. A big concern in Mackay is the coming storm tide, which is expected to flood low-lying areas. The Bureau of Meteorology is warning that the storm tide is increasing at Laguna Quays and Mackay.

Updated

A Queensland police deputy commissioner, Steve Gollschewski, said emergency services were now focusing their attention on the Bowen-Whitsunday area. He said the region had been entirely locked down. Requests for help in the area could no longer be responded to, he said.

“People have to be inside,” he told the ABC. “Our officers and emergency services have withdrawn. They cannot respond any more in that area.”

He urged residents in Mackay to stay off the roads. Emergency services still had the capacity to respond in Mackay but that “will not last for very long”.

Updated

The latest report from AAP suggests the cyclone will make landfall near Bowen about 1pm, later than originally expected. Debbie has apparently slowed as it moves toward the coast, reducing the risk from the expected storm surge. AAP reporter, Shae McDonald, is at the popular backpacker destination, Airlie Beach. She reported the wind continued to increase throughout Monday night, making it difficult for many residents to sleep. The town and surrounding regions lost power at different points overnight, and alarms at the hotel were set off, only to be drowned out by the wind.

Dark clouds approach over boats at Airlie Beach, Queensland, on Monday.
Dark clouds approach over boats at Airlie Beach, Queensland, on Monday. Photograph: Dan Peled/EPA

The gathering storm clouds made for a beautiful, ominous sunset in the town of Ayr last night.

Storm clouds gather in the town of Ayr in far north Queensland as Cyclone Debbie approaches on March 27, 2017

Cyclone Debbie, predicted to be the most destructive storm in Australia for six years, is due to cross the Queensland coast near Ayr on Tuesday morning. Follow all the developments with our live coverage throughout the day.

By 5am local time, Cyclone Debbie had already begun to impact the Whitsunday Islands. Destructive wind gusts of more than 120km/h were hitting the region, and the Bureau of Meteorology predicts the winds will extend further to the coast and islands between Ayr and Sarina throughout the morning. Damaging winds were hitting the popular holiday destination of Hamilton Island. There have been cancellations to flights to and from the island, and the local school has been closed today. The BoM’s latest advice is that the cyclone is moving west-south-west at 9km/h.

Updated

Cyclone Debbie has been upgraded to a category four tropical cyclone, and is continuing to hurtle towards the far north Queensland coast. The latest information from the Bureau of Meteorology suggests its destructive core will make landfall between Ayr and Midge Point in the late morning. The cyclone is expected to bring wind gusts of up to 260km/h near its centre. Residents are being warned of a dangerous storm tide, which will continue to steadily rise as the cyclone approaches. The tide will bring damaging waves, strong currents and the flooding of low-lying areas.

Please stay safe out there. If it is safe to do so, let us know how your area is affected. Send us pictures or describe your experience in an email to christopher.knaus@guardian.co.uk. We’ll continue to bring you updates as the situation develops.

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