Panicked residents in areas affected by Cyclone Debbie have relayed their experiences to the ABC as torrential rain and wind gusts pummel the region.
Proserpine local Sue said her house sustained heavy damage after being hit by debris from her neighbour’s roof.
“The next-door neighbour’s roof has been flying off for hours and it’s smashed into our side windows — we’ve got three broken windows now so the rooms are totalled,” she told ABC Tropical North in Mackay.
“We’ve got water coming down the hallway from those rooms — the doors are shaking, the interior doors to those rooms — I can hear the aluminium venetian blinds that I should have pulled up, shaking in the wind and we’ve got venetian drapes flying out the window from the other room.
“We’ve got water coming down, it’s just gushing —I’ve been mopping and mopping and I’m running out of towels.”
Sue said the entire house was shaking and she could hear things crashing in the bedrooms.
She said she was huddling with her husband in their bathroom.
“I’m in the safest place, but that doesn’t mean I’m safe — I’m in a very small bathroom and you can just hear these other crashing noises and the doors shaking.
“I think the house would’ve been all right if it wasn’t for the neighbour’s roof falling off. I just can’t believe how long it’s taking, so it’s really horrible.
“My son and daughter have been on the phone to me and they know a little bit about it but I don’t want to upset them.”
Sue said she had lived through many cyclones growing up in the region, but this was the scariest experience she could recall.