A Hunter couple is in lockdown in their Daydream Island hotel room as Cyclone Debbie heads for the Queensland mainland.
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Wally and Leanne Morris from Maitland arrived on the island on Friday to celebrate their 39th wedding anniversary. By Saturday the winds had become so strong that the ferry port was shutdown and the couple knew they would be in for a wild ride as Cyclone Debbie approached.
“We are in the centre of the cyclone at the moment,” Wally said via phone with very intermittent reception about 11am Tuesday.
“We are on lockdown in our room. If the windows come in we have been instructed to go into the bathroom and shelter.”
Winds have already reached almost 200 kilometres an hour, a ferocity that Mr Morris said he had never experienced before.
“There are palm trees broken on the ground, windows have already smashed in and down at the wharf, where the ferry is, has all been smashed up,” he said.
“We won’t know if we can even get off the island until tomorrow.”
In the meantime the couple is safe inside their hotel room and has contacted family and friends to let them know they are safe and dry.
LOCAL COUPLE ON HAMILTON ISLAND
Ben and Tricia Saxby arrived on Hamilton Island on April 23 ready for a lovely holiday in the sun.
“We found out there may be a cyclone forming north west of us around Townsville on Saturday. I think it may have been a category 2 at the time. The weather seemed fine,” Mrs Saxby said.
“At lunch time Saturday we was told the marina was closed and no more ferrys or planes would be arriving until the storm passed on Tuesday.”
The couple got very little sleep on the Monday night and decided to take turns sleeping in shifts. The storm intensified around 3am Tuesday morning as wind speeds gradually picked up to 200kms in the early hours.
“At this time we were laying on the floor between the two beds,” she said.
“By 10am we were in the cyclones eye, we spent the next six hours in the bathroom as we listened to constant unrelenting winds that could only be described as a jet plane engine constantly at the door.
“A white wall of rain blew sidways at our front door as our glass doors violently shook as if they were about to burst open.
“ had ear aches from the pressure.”
They eventually emerged from the bathroom at 4pm Tuesday. The couple said food and water became scare by evacuation day on Thursday.
“There was very little cockatoos left. All leaves of trees, tree bark skinned, the landscape was scorched brown, palm leaves covered the ground everywhere,” she said.
“Windows blown out, the roof peeled of some buildings, balcony railings missing, some boats sinking or run aground, ceiling down in the reception of our building, it looked like a war zone.”
On Thursday the couple were evacuated to the airport and eventually they made their way safely home.