Kiwis brace for 'huge devastation' from Cyclone Debbie
New Zealanders are among those being warned to bunker down as "monster" Cyclone Debbie bears down on Queensland.
Hastings man Neville Chapman and his partner and son are hunkering down in their apartment on the top storey of a block in Cannonvale, near Airlie Beach.
"We're knuckling down. We've brought everything in, shut the windows, shut the doors and prepared to be isolated for four to five days," he told NZME.
He said the supermarkets had been cleaned out and palm trees outside his apartment were already bending under the force of winds.
"There's going to be huge devastation," Chapman said.
RELATED STORY: 'This is going to be a monster of a cyclone': Category 4 Debbie on its way
Meanwhile, Wellington couple Emma Gibbons and Ryan Cayless and six more family and friends are in lockdown in their rooms at the seafront Beach Club Resort on Catseye Beach on Hamilton Island.
Cayless said last night that guests have been told to remain in their rooms.
"We have been ordered to stay in our rooms and if the weather gets serious, like windows or doors smash, we have been told to bunker down in the bathroom as that's fully enclosed with no windows," Cayless told Fairfax.
Gibbons told NZME they have been given torches and emergency dinner and breakfast packs.
"It's dark now but the wind has certainly gotten up outside and louder now," Gibbons told NZME. "It's been pretty relaxed and positive with the staff as they are used to bad weather but not quite this severe."
Gibbons said people were "in good spirits", adding that wine and beer had sold out at supermarkets and liquor stores yesterday.
They were supposed to be leaving on Wednesday but they may now not get off the island until later in the week.
The couple are among tourists on Hamilton Island who are weathering the worst of Cyclone Debbie as the Category 4 cyclone passes over the normally idyllic tropical paradise this morning.
The eye of the storm has hit the Whitsundays and there are reports of roofs off buildings in some parts.
Helena Mo who is holidaying on the island said the wind started to get "pretty bad" around 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."
She said she and her boyfriend moved a mattress into the bathroom around midnight, but so far they had been able to stay in the main part of their room at the Reef View Hotel.
"The doors and windows in this hotel have been pretty sturdy and cyclone proof," she said.
