Emergency services will be heading out this morning to assess the full damage wreaked by Cyclone Debbie.
The destructive 50km-wide storm system hit the Whitsunday Islands and the nearby mainland yesterday and moved slowly inland, bringing howling winds, heavy rain and huge seas.
Police said one man was badly hurt when a wall collapsed at Proserpine and was taken to hospital.
Emergency services fear further reports of injury and even death.
The weather last night was still too bad to assess damage fully or mount an emergency response.
“We will also receive more reports of injuries, if not deaths. We need to be prepared for that,” Queensland Police Commissioner Ian Stewart told reporters in Brisbane.
As the storm forged slowly inland after nightfall, state premier Annastacia Palaszczuk urged people to stay indoors.
“It is a serious event and we do not want to see loss of life,” she told the ABC.
Wind gusts stronger than 260 km/h were recorded at tourist resorts along the Great Barrier Reef as the storm made landfall as a category 4 , one rung below the most dangerous wind speed level.
As it moved inland it was finally downgraded to a category 1 system but was still capable of damaging property.
“It’s very noisy: Screaming, howling wind … sounds like a freight train,”
Jan Clifford from Airlie Beach told Reuters as the cyclone made landfall.
Torrential rain flooded streets and wind smashed windows, uprooted trees and tossed debris down streets, while jetties at Airlie Beach marina were wrecked, television pictures showed.
Power was cut for 48,000 people in a wide area between the towns of Bowen and Mackay, north and south of Airlie Beach.
Ports at Abbot Point, Mackay and Hay Point were shut and Townsville airport was closed. Airlines Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia suspended flights to and from the region and said planes may also be grounded on Wednesday, although Townsville airport said it would reopen.
-RNZ
