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Update, 9.00am: The Bendigo couple who had just moved to Queensland when a cyclone hit are safe and well this morning.
William Hill had just moved to Airlie Beach with his girlfriend Aimee Phagan.
The coastal town was where the eye of Cyclone Debbie passed as it hit the coast early yesterday afternoon.
“We’ve seen the worst of it now. There’s a lot of rain here and the road is still a river,” Mr Hill said.
“We lost a gutter off the front of our house, although we had friends who lost half of their houses.”
Mr Hill described the moment the eye of the cyclone hit, saying the wind went “dead quiet” before the wind hit again in the opposite direction.
Down the road in Proserpine Mandy Maybanks, who moved to Queensland from Bendigo 18 months ago, described the force of the cyclone.
"I was really terrified (Monday) night because it got extremely windy in the dark. You can't actually see what's happening so all you can do is hear it," she said.
"It sounds like trains whistling past. It's so noisy it's like thunder and wind all in one voice.
"You can feel it. You can feel the vibration, you can feel the trees bashing, you can hear trees cracking."
Mr Hill and Ms Phagan had walked into the centre of town as it became safer.
“The big ‘M’ sign from the local Maccas was half way down the road. There’s stuff everywhere. It’s like a bomb site,” he said.
Though the area lost power Tuesday morning Ms Maybanks was able to stay in touch with loved ones all day, which she said was invaluable.
"There was a massive amount of hype from the media which created a lot of concern from family members. So it was good that we still had communication," she said.
“You can get away with no power and things like that. But having the communication to relieve the anxiety of family elsewhere is really good."
Tuesday, 11.30am: A Bendigo man who recently moved to Queensland says he and his partner are bracing for the worst of a tropical cyclone ravaging the state.
William Hill moved to Airlie Beach on the Whitsunday Coast last week. He said his new home was about an hour away from the eye of the storm.
Mr Hill and his partner are currently bunkered down in their bathroom.
“We were downstairs until it flooded. There’s a lot of water outside now. It kind of looks like a flooded Bendigo Creek, to be honest,” he said.
“The wind outside is currently blowing at about 150 kilometres. There were a lot of palm trees outside but they have been ripped up and are now lying across the driveway.”
Mr Hill said the couple were safe and were now preparing for the worst of the storm, which was expected to hit at about midday with 250km/hour winds.
The Bureau of Meteorology expects the centre of the system to pass across the mainland coast between Cape Upstart and Airlie Beach early this afternoon.
More to come.