(TOWNSVILLE, Australia) — Residents of Australia's cyclone-battered tropical northeast emerged from their homes on Wednesday to find roofs lying in their yards, boats flung onto rocks and roads blocked by tangles of fallen trees and power lines, as emergency officials tried to reach communities cut off by the powerful storm. The destructive eyewall of Cyclone Debbie, a Category 4 storm packing winds up to 260 kilometers per hour (160 miles per hour), made landfall near Airlie Beach, a resort town in Queensland state, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology said in a statement. The idyllic Whitsunday Islands, a popular tourist destination, were hit particularly hard, with one recorded wind gust of 263 kilometers (163 miles) per hour, the meteorology bureau reported. The slow-moving storm pounded the coastal region for hours, creating what Stewart called a “battering ram effect,” with the same areas enduring the howling winds and drenching rains for a punishingly long time. John Collins, a member of the Whitsundays government council, was sheltering from the storm with his wife and four daughters inside their house in Proserpine, a town south of Airlie Beach. At least four trees had been smashed to pieces. "It's just going on and on and on," he said. Authorities urged thousands of people in low-lying areas at risk from tidal surges and winds of up to 300 kph to flee their homes on Monday, in what would be the biggest evacuation seen in Australia since Cyclone Tracy devastated the northern city of Darwin in 1974. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told reporters at the Crisis Coordination Centre in Canberra: “Nature has flung her worst at the people of Queensland. Be prepared to shelter in place until Wednesday.”

The storm also poses a serious threat to the farming region’s crops. The area produces sugarcane and a wide range of fruits and vegetables, including mangoes and peppers, and farmers were just beginning to check on damage to their crops Wednesday morning.
A Category 4 severe tropical cyclone travels over the Whitsunday Islands and crosses the coast of Queensland, Australia, near the town of Airlie Beach.